Macron Sets End of CoFoE for May 2020, After Presidential Election in France
Brussels, December 10 (TASR-correspondent) – The end of the Conference on the Future of Europe (CoFoE) is scheduled for May 2022, French President Emmanuel Macron said on Thursday in Paris when presenting the French Presidency’s priorities to the EU Council.
The French will take over the presidency from the Slovenians on January 1, 2022. In addition to wanting to promote his visions for a more modern, stronger, more sovereign and united Europe, Macron must think not only Europeanly but also nationally, because in April the French will elect a new president. Macron hasn’t yet announced whether he’ll run for a second term, but the election campaign may also have an impact on his European ambitions.
What is certain, however, is that if the CoFoE concludes in May, as suggested by Macron, the conference’s success or failure will not affect France’s election situation and critics won’t be able to blame Macron for using the CoFoE’s “spotlight” for his electoral or political gain.
Even if Macron doesn’t run for president, or if he loses the battle for the Elysee Palace after the two-round election in April, he’ll still be able to close the CoFoE as president in May, symbolically closing the process that he started when in the post-Brexit period he came up with the idea of holding a Europe-wide conference of direct dialogue with citizens on where Europe should go in the coming decades.
