France's Macron calls for joint EU defence force

French President Emmanuel Macron on Tuesday proposed setting up a joint military "rapid response force" for the European Union by 2020.

In the speech delivered two days after the German election in which Chancellor Angela Merkel's alliance did less well than expected, Macron portrayed Europe as needing to relaunch itself, saying that on issues as diverse as asylum, border protection, corporate tax, intelligence sharing, defence and financial stability it needed to forge deeper cooperation.

Setting out his vision for a reformed EU, Macron said the force could act as "a partner for national armies" in countries willing to participate in the scheme.

"At the beginning of the next decade, Europe must have a joint intervention force, a common defence budget and a joint doctrine for action," Macron said at the La Sorbonne University in Paris. 

A joint European intelligence academy to better fight against terrorism and a shared civil protection force should be formed, he added. 

Jack Parrock reports with more for TRT World on Brussels' reaction to Macron's speech.

The 39-year-old president also called for the EU to be rebuilt on better values. 

"The only path that assures our future is the rebuilding of a Europe that is sovereign, united and democratic," the former investment banker and philosophy student said in his opening remarks.

He said a separate budget for the 19 countries that use the euro - out of 28 EU member states - was necessary to finance joint investments and to insulate against economic shocks.

In the past he has said such a budget should amount to "several points of GDP", but he did not put a figure on it on Tuesday. Ahead of his speech, Elysee officials said Macron hoped his ideas would be taken into account in Germany's coalition building negotiations.

German challenge

In his campaign for the presidency, Macron made European reform a central plank and he and Merkel have in recent months spoken often about their desire for France and Germany, the EU's two largest economies, to take the lead on integration.

But less than five months into his five-year term, Macron faces the threat that Merkel, 63, and looking to start her fourth term, has less capacity to move than either would have hoped.

In Berlin on Monday, Merkel alluded to Macron's speech and said it was important to move beyond catchphrases into detail.

"It is not about the slogans but what lies behind them," she said. "I am talking about this with the French president."

While still the largest bloc in the Bundestag, Merkel's CDU/CSU conservative alliance secured fewer votes than expected and will likely have to strike a coalition deal with the liberal Free Democrats (FDP) and the Greens to form a government.

Macron was under pressure to find a form of words that keeps his vision alive while somehow keeping Merkel, the FDP and the Greens inside the tent or risk his ambitions for Europe being cut short before they even launched.

The fiscally conservative FDP has made clear its opposition to many of Macron's proposals, disliking the idea of a eurozone budget or any facility that may lead to financial transfers from wealthier euro zone countries to poorer ones, or the possibility of national debt being pooled.

The FDP has also called for a phasing out of Europe's ESM bailout fund - which Macron wants to turn into a European Monetary Fund with preemptive powers to help out struggling countries - and wants to see changes to EU treaties that would allow countries to leave the eurozone.

Greece’s former finance minister Yanis Varoufakis weighed in with comments on Twitter, saying that the rise of the FDP and far-right party Alternative for Deutschland (AfD) means that Macron's strategy for a “federation lite” is dead.

It may take months before a coalition agreement is signed. But once it is, its contours are strict, effectively setting limits on the chancellor's ability to act.