WHAT a study in contrasts. To the strains of Beethoven’s “Ode to Joy”, the anthem of the European Union, Emmanuel Macron strides manfully across the courtyard of the Louvre to deliver his victory speech. France’s new president vows to defend the EU, “the common destiny the peoples of our continent have given ourselves”. A few months later, after a bruising election result, Angela Merkel gives a plodding press conference in a functional room in Berlin, tentatively extending a hand to the parties her wounded Christian Democrats must woo into coalition. As for Europe, do not get your hopes up. “Today,” she says, “isn’t the day to say what will work and what won’t.”
The future of the EU lies somewhere in the gap between a bold young president whose ambitions extend far beyond France’s borders, and a cautious chancellor approaching her political end, running a country not yet ready to accept the mantle of leadership many would like to thrust upon it. Mr Macron...Continue reading
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