The European Union is a unionist intellectual project that fermented in minds and writings of thinkers, wise men, prominent legal scholars, and philosophers before it became truth and a real political project with strong institutions including head of state, government ministers, experts, and parliamentarians of nations within the union despite differences in economic and financial progress, the political and social philosophy prevailing in the member-states of the EU.
However, those states were able altogether through the wisdom of some members and the sublime unionist principles to release a European unified currency that took place in the national currencies.
The European currency played a role in establishing a real economic unity and converting markets of the member-states into one internal market within Europe.
The EU was able to achieve these accomplishments and others due to factors such as the prevailing trust, political, economic, and legislative factors that make the EU a political and legal system with special features.
The EU lives in dire conditions within the frame of the new world system which is being inflicted by the Corona pandemic. The pandemic revealed new determinations and unprecedented obligations.
Thus the pandemic proved the aliments and selfishness of the world system, as well as the nation-states, were in crisis.
The current and coming periods witness changes in all things in the EU starting with the foundations of the system, priorities of the national states, and bases of new social relations.
The EU races against time to cope with a number of challenges that include efforts to handle the damages that hurt the world economy due to the outbreak of the Corona pandemic which is unprecedented in the history of humankind.
This system seeks to protect principles of the liberal world system which we should concentrate on but it is not a light task.
In this regard, France, succeeding Slovenia, received as of January 1st the presidency of the European Council that represents interests of 27- members to the European Commission (EC) and Parliament.
The newly –assumed presidency of the EC is the 13th since 1958. France takes the helm for six months and the last time it led the block was in 2008.
France’s presidency of the EC coincides with the French presidential elections that take place on 10 and 24 April, meanwhile legislative elections will run in June. This scenario resembles what happened in 1995 when Francois Mitterrand was about to conclude successive presidential terms.
President Emanuel Macron defined three priorities for the French presidency over the period to come. Those priorities include setting a minimum level for wages across the European Union, controlling giants of the Internet providers, and introducing a carbon tax.
These are ambitious targets but they collide with the remaining short period of the French presidency of the EC amid hard positions such as the outbreak of COVID-19, the emergence of Omicron mutant, and the Russian build-up of next borders with Ukraine.
In this regard, France has recently addressed European legislators in Strasburg that house European Parliament. He mentioned the priorities of his country during its presidency of the EU within the first months of 2022.
Macron talked about democracy, the environment, and peace in peace in Europe which is sometimes depicted as the Old Continent.
Macron also suggested a new alliance with African countries in the fields of investment, health, and security, announcing that France will organize a EUROPEAN-African summit in February to reconstruct the partnership between Africa and Europe.
We know that there are complicated problems between France and some African countries headed by Mali where its capital city witnessed protests to condemn sanctions imposed by the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and French interference in Malian internal affairs.
Within that frame, political activists in Mali made clear that they aren’t against France but the choices of the French government in Mali and the countries of Sahel.
Macron stressed that Europe need to set a new system for stability and security that recalls strategic policies of rearming and a road map shared by other allies in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) then presented to Russia to negotiate on.
But we know the limited aspects of this vision because the European strategic independence is merely an illusion. Europeans couldn’t play the decisive role of the United States of America ( USA) as a security provider in the European area.
The marathon meetings with Russia over Ukraine are being held with the USA first and last.
Reconstructing the European house in economic, security, and social fields is a complicated process due to the specific features of the new world system because the seclusion of states will become the basis in the medium range, in addition to monopoly and the Sino-American conflict that has no good omen.
Translated by Ahmed Moamar
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