PARIS - French President Emmanuel Macron has penned a letter urging European civilization to ‘reinvent’ itself in the midst of unprecedented threats and crisis. His ideas include creating an agency to combat ‘manipulation’ in elections.
“Never since the Second World War has Europe been so essential. Yet never has Europe been in such danger,” Macron wrote in a letter published in more than two dozen European papers on Monday.
His grim assessment came weeks before the UK hits the official Brexit deadline, set for March 29, and two months before the next European Parliament elections, scheduled for May.
The French leader said that Brexit was the symbol of the crisis “of a Europe that has failed to respond to its peoples’ need for protection from the major shocks of the modern world. ”
He also seized on an opportunity to vent frustration over the painstaking talks on the UK-EU divorce deal, and all the controversies surrounding it. “Who told the British people the truth about their post-Brexit future? Who spoke to them about losing access to the EU market? ”
The British government recently postponed a parliamentary vote on Brexit, and has been hectically trying to kick-start last-minute renegotiations after the previous hard-fought deal was overwhelmingly rejected by the House of Commons.
After blaming Brexit and other European misfortunes on “nationalism ” and “anger-mongers, backed by fake news ,” Macron shifted the alarmist tone to pro-EU praise and feel-good platitudes, calling for “a European renaissance. ” (RT)