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Transcript of the joint press conference of Emmanuel Macron in Luxembourg

MIL OSI Translation. Government of the Republic of France statements from English to French – Published September 07, 2018

Category: Europe

ONLY THE PRONOUNCED FAITH.

Luxembourg – Thursday, September 6, 2018

Thank you very much, Prime Minister, Dear Xavier.

I am very happy to be here again today in the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg and very happy to have had the opportunity to meet with my colleagues and friends Xavier BETTEL, Charles MICHEL and Mark RUTTE on the occasion of this quadrilateral meeting on all the European issues of the autumn and thank you, Prime Minister for this warm welcome. You have perfectly reminded us, we had a busy agenda and occupied by several questions that structure the European news and will be discussed at 28 and 27 in a few weeks in Salzburg.

On the Brexit I think I can say that we have the firm intention to continue the spirit and the method of what we have been driving since the beginning of the choice of the British people, that is, to work for 27 and to be extremely united and united in the negotiation and approach of this issue, and then to be attached to the coherence of the European Union, the Single Market and the solidity and solidarity of the four freedoms. And so in this case any proposal that would somehow lead us to having to choose to change our rules to accommodate a situation would weaken the rest of this construction that makes us stronger, we are deeply convinced, that better protects our fellow citizens and which allowed this period of freedom, peace and prosperity unique for our continent during the last seven decades.

We have been able to evoke several other topics on which we continue the work of defense, economic, institutional and I believe that we share a real desire to have a more united Europe, more sovereign, a Europe that better protects our fellow citizens and that's the spirit of the fighting that we've been doing together in recent weeks.

On the subject of migration on which you have come back at length and which has obviously been at the heart of European news for several months, I believe that we are attached to European work in that it must respect our values ​​more and in that it is certainly more effective. I think I can say, as far as I am concerned, that this is what opposes me to the nationalists, the nationalist solutions now proposed by some are contrary to our values, they are contrary to our values ​​because they propose to welcome no one and no longer respect the right of asylum. It is as far as France is concerned in the Constitution of our country.

If it consists in saying whoever arrives in Europe is wrong and will not be accepted, it is not the history of our continent and our Europe. It is ineffective because those who can agree on a nationalism that destroys never agree to build together. Because the nationalist of the country of arrival would like more solidarity from others but the nationalist of a country which is supposed to exert this solidarity is against taking the least migrant, it is therefore an ineffective solution that they propose.

What we have been working on together for several weeks is to respect our values ​​and to have a more effective European solution and thus to continue what we started with the countries of origin and transit, to give a future to these youths in their home country. Increase the fight against traffickers because we always forget to say that behind these population movements there are women and men who feed on these trafficking and Europe must be much harder on this subject, better protect our borders and to be very rigorous on the principle of responsibility and the principle of solidarity.

The principle of responsibility is that the country of first entry into Schengen has a responsibility and can not do without it. The responsibility is that our international humanitarian law has rules and the closest port is the one that must be reached. And solidarity is that we can not let any country bear the burden of these arrivals alone and therefore there is need for financial solidarity, European rules, European solidarity to return to the country of origin for those who are not entitled to asylum. On this basis, therefore, it is the foundation of what we have together defended at the last European Council that we have advanced today and that together we will bring concrete solutions for the Salzburg summit. Now we have to go back to implementation and concrete solutions on that basis, that is the discussion we had today.

These are the few words in addition to what the Prime Minister said that I wanted to say here in my opinion that these progressive solutions that we carry are on the one hand the most respectful of the principles and history of our Europe but also the more effective in dealing with these challenges. I hope that together we can continue to work in this direction, we have no naivete and besides the policies that we lead in our countries are not naive, they are demanding but the requirement must not make us forget the principles and values ​​and the requirement implies European cooperation.

I am also very happy in a few minutes to share this consultation with you, Prime Minister, it will indeed, I spoke of a more united Europe, a more sovereign Europe and which protects, we also need a A more democratic Europe and we decided a few months ago to launch these citizens' consultations in all the member countries of the Union so as to be able to draw a synthesis in December, which we will do in a few moments together as I have done so in several other member countries that have invited me there.

Thank you in any case once again for your hospitality and our discussion.

EDITOR’S NOTE: This article is a translation. Please accept our apologies should the grammar and/or sentence structure is not be perfect.