Transcript of the press conference of the President of the Republic, Emmanuel Macron, in Salzburg at the end of the informal European summit

MIL OSI Translation. Government of the Republic of France statements from English to French – Published September 21, 2018

Category: Europe

Only the announcement is validSalzburg, Thursday 20 September 2018

We were yesterday late afternoon gathered in Salzburg for this European summit back to work and I wanted in a few minutes to report on our exchanges. First of all, I would like to thank the Austrian Chancellor for his hospitality and the organization of this summit and the framework in which he was able to organize this work both last night and this morning.

Our discussion focused this morning particularly on a theme that we had planned to discuss for a long time within the framework of the agenda agreed last year after the proposals I had made at the Sorbonne: the question of security European Union and the fight against terrorism in particular. We have made major progress in recent months, for example in the fight against the financing of terrorism, the coordination of intelligence services, and this is what we have collectively been doing this morning. And I particularly want to welcome the Commission's proposal that France has promoted throughout the last few months and which was originally a Franco-British initiative of 13 June 2017, which is the mandatory withdrawal of content on the Internet. that incite terrorism.

For several years, we thought that the incentives were enough, we thought we could wait, we will now move towards the mandatory withdrawal of content on the Internet that incite terrorism. The legislation will be adopted – I hope it will happen as soon as possible – and they will be removed at the most within an hour after being put online. This is a major step forward and the Commission has largely defended it.

The Commission has also proposed to provide the future European Public Prosecutor's Office with jurisdiction over terrorism, which France fully supports.

So, all these discussions about security have, in my opinion, made progress, concrete concretizations such as the ones I just mentioned and especially progress on a multiple agenda.

This working meeting was also devoted to two other major current issues, namely the migration issue on the one hand and the "Brexit" on the other. On the issue of migration, I had the opportunity to remind you last night, this is a subject on which we basically have four challenges. The first is the issue of arrivals this year in fewer numbers than the previous year or what Europe may have known in 2015, for example, but which continues, particularly by the western route, by Morocco and Spain, and the eastern route. And so, solve the problem of continuing arrivals, especially for illegal migrants.

Second point is the question of return. Today, what really weighs on several European countries – I take, for example, the case of Italy, which has lacked European solidarity in recent years – is the presence of 500 to 600,000 migrants who are not not in a position to obtain asylum and that we must accompany them home.

The third real subject that weighs on Europe on the migratory level is what are called secondary movements. If, for example, in 2017, Germany and France were the main asylum countries, it is not because non-Europeans arrived in these countries, it is because people who had asylum in other countries had returned, circulate within the Schengen area and arrive and often ask for it again in France and Germany. And so it is the third subject, that of the secondary ways.

And then, we have a fourth political subject to settle, this one which is mainly the subject of Italian sensitivity: the arrivals coming from Libya. I say that it is political because the flows have greatly decreased during the past months and it is essentially a subject related to unilateral choices of some.

I want to distinguish these four points to always remind you of what we are talking about and the topics we have to deal with. Faced with this, there was in yesterday's discussion, which in my opinion was much more appeased, open, analytical than we had been able to have last June, elements of convergence that we have largely pushed.

First, I believe that there is a strong convergence to strengthen our discussions and dialogue with countries of transit origin, particularly with regard to Africa. I recall that the European Union already has an investment plan of 44 billion euros with Africa, just over 22 have already been disbursed or are being disbursed. We must continue this work but have a full dialogue with the countries of origin and transit to be able, on the one hand, by our policy of development, educational … prevent departures, on the other hand, in the framework of this relationship, to fight traffickers much more effectively because behind these movements, there are organized networks of traffickers and to improve our policy of return to the countries of origin which, as I said, is inefficient .

So, we decided, first of all, to strengthen our coordination on these three aspects of the discussion with the African countries and to give the presidency a mandate for, in particular with the transit countries that are the countries bordering the Mediterranean, to organize a dialogue on behalf of the European Union – it was started a few days ago with Egypt – but to continue this one. Under no circumstances can this dialogue promote solutions that do not conform to our values ​​and rights, in particular landing platforms that are not in line with what UNHCR promotes, but it is a relevant dialogue, useful for to be more efficient.

The second important issue in terms of migration, beyond this dialogue with Africa, is the strengthening of our common borders. There may have been divergent or dissonant voices on this issue but there was nevertheless a broad consensus to move forward on the basis of the proposal made by the European Commission to strengthen Frontex, ie say the European agency for the protection of our borders.

We have free space, we have all the advantages. If we want to better protect our fellow citizens, which is what we are looking for, we must invest and organize better to protect our common borders. And as such, I fully support the proposal of the European Commission and I believe that it is besides the only coherent answer to the challenges that we have.

Third subject on which there has been strong convergence is the proposal made by the European Commission to speed up the Returns Directive. I mentioned it earlier to emphasize the lack of efficiency that we have on this point, it requires a reorganized dialogue with countries of origin in Africa, but it also means changing our rules. The Commission has made effective proposals in this respect, I hope that they can be adopted as soon as possible and there has also been a strong convergence on this point.

Finally, we want to move forward – and the Commission has been positive, encouraging on this point – on Dublin's in-depth reform, ie our internal rules to organize responsibility and solidarity within our area. However, with Germany and a few other countries, we have indicated that, of course, our priority remains to put in place a sustainable, organized mechanism of caring for the migrants in need of protection who are saved at sea while respecting our right, that is to say, landing in the nearest safe harbor, and speedily renewing those who are not eligible for asylum. And we indicated our willingness to work on this mechanism in the coming days and weeks with the states that would like to move forward.

As such, I therefore consider that beyond the proposals, the implementation of the June agreements on which the Commission has started to make proposals, there are several effective avenues for progress that have been made today. discussed and which must now be finalized by the Ministers and the Commission.

Finally, we discussed the issue of "Brexit" this afternoon. After an exchange, a presentation by Theresa MAY last night, we at 27, in the presence of Mr. BARNIER, discussed this topic. I want to repeat here the high quality of the work conducted by Michel BARNIER and also to repeat that I am particularly attached to the method that, from the beginning, we have chosen in this case, that is to say an organization with 27 a single negotiator. And I hope that until the end, this method is preserved.

On this subject, it is a question of being both clear and simple and calm because there is a lot of nervousness. Clear and simple to say that the British Government has proposed a number of advances this summer in its Checkers plan. I had the opportunity to discuss it at length with the British Prime Minister at the beginning of August. That is a good thing and it is a courageous step by the Prime Minister that I want to salute here. But in a very clear way, I also want to say – and this was the subject of a consensus this afternoon – that the proposals made as they stand today are not acceptable, especially in the economic field and, in particular state, the Checkers plan can not be a plan to take or leave.

We owe it to ourselves to defend the single market, its coherence and we have reaffirmed our desire not to give in on this point. This is both our short term and medium and long term interest. It is a vital, political and economic interest for the European Union. Vital because that's what makes the consistency of its functioning every day, political because that's what makes our credibility when we interact with other powers.

So we must now use the next few weeks to move forward in the respect of our fundamental interests, which are the integrity of the single market, the strength of the European project and the unity of Ireland. In this respect, we are today in the hour of truth and we can not wait any more given the deadlines that are familiar to everyone, and I therefore hope that in October we will have a discussion on new British proposals that will allow deal with these issues, especially the opt-out agreement and the Irish backstop topic.

A year ago to the day, I was giving a speech on Europe at the Sorbonne. There is no need to stress that the context is difficult, but it is precisely because Europe is in danger, shaken up by some, that we have to dare, that we have to commit ourselves relentlessly and that we must refound everything. For a year, the progress has been real and significant in terms of defense, in terms of European digital, we saw again last week with a victory that some thought unthinkable a few months ago on the right to author, in terms of social protection with the reform of the detachment, economy and growth with a historic Franco-German agreement on the budget of the euro area, security – I evoked at the moment the contents of terrorists, but also the European force for civil protection, against natural disasters -, education and culture with the launch this fall of the first European universities ..

Many of the proposals that France made a year ago are being implemented or have already become reality, which shows that proposing, daring, fighting is possible in Europe and Europe stops when we no longer propose or have no ambition for it and Europe gets lost in the quarrels and let one or the other be seduced by the worst messages of ease or violence when she forgets which has always carried it, an ambition to be. And this fight will continue. This will be the issue of the European elections, but it is not only the subject of an election, it is a fight every day and we will continue to lead.

Thank you.

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