[ad_1]
PARIS — French President Emmanuel Macron on Thursday evening said the U.K. will remain France’s friend — despite the Brexit referendum being won with lies and false promises.
“The United Kingdom remains our neighbor, but also our friend and ally,” Macron said in a televised address for the New Year’s Eve.
“This choice to leave Europe, this Brexit, was the child of the European malaise and of many lies and false promises,” he added, after saying this was the first time a country had left the EU.
The French President said the trade deal struck with the U.K. was “defending our interests, our industries, our fishermen and our European unity,” before stressing the necessity of building “a stronger, more autonomous, more united Europe.”
“Our destiny is first and foremost in Europe,” Macron told the French during his ninth televised address of the year, and then defended his 2020 policies and goals for the year ahead.
“We were able to convince Germany, and then the other members of the EU, to devise a single, massive recovery plan and to decide on a common, solidarity-based common debt program to better prepare for our future, engaging in a digital and green transition and creating as many jobs as possible,” Macron said.
During his 15 minute address, the French president also paid tribute to the country’s 64,000 coronavirus victims and thanked the French for their sacrifices and resilience after a particularly difficult year.
The head of state, whose speech was punctuated by the word “hope,” also hailed the promise of COVID vaccines. Macron said he won’t allow “an unjustified slowness” to persist and promised to speed up the French vaccination rollout. Fewer than 200 people were vaccinated in the first three days — far fewer than other EU countries.
This is a major challenge for Macron, given that 60 percent of French people are reluctant to be vaccinated, according to an Ipsos Mori poll.
“Let us prepare today for the spring of 2021, which will be the beginning of a new French morning, a European renaissance,” Macron said before wishing everyone a happy new year.
[ad_2]
Source link
