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WORLD NEWS Friday 8 September 2017

At democracy’s birthplace, France’s Macron dreams of EU 2.0

mies including Ireland, Por- Thursday’s visit came hours policymaking.
tugal and Cyprus. after Hurricane Irma, the His evening speech was
Athens has relied on in- strongest Atlantic Ocean given in front of the an-
ternational rescue loans hurricane on record, bat- cient Acropolis on Pnyx Hill,
since 2010, and in return tered French, British and where popular assemblies
has seen its economy put Dutch territories in the were held in Athens 2,500
under strict supervision by Caribbean.“All of France is years ago and the idea
its creditors. Successive grief-stricken by the many of democracy was devel-
governments have had to victims yesterday from the oped.The French president
enforce radical fiscal and hurricane,” Macron said. delivered his opening re-
structural reforms, including He promised to visit the marks in Greek, delight-
pension cuts and repeated region when the weather ing an audience that in-
tax hikes, in order to qualify lets up and put climate cluded most of the Greek
for the loans. change “at the heart” of Cabinet.q

French President Emmanuel Macron, right, and Greek Prime
Minister Alexis Tsipras speaks after a meeting in Athens, Thurs-
day, Sept. 7, 2017. Macron arrives in Greece on a two-day of-
ficial visit expected to focus on Greece’s financial crisis.
(AP Photo/Charalambos Gikas)
By DEREK GATOPOULOS cision to leave.
ELENA BECATOROS His proposal found enthu-
Associated Press siastic support in bailout-
ATHENS, Greece (AP) — stricken Greece, which
Standing at a Greek site considers France a vital ally
where democracy was and counterweight to fis-
conceived, French Presi- cally hawkish Germany in
dent Emmanuel Macron its efforts to ease the strin-
called on members of gent terms of its interna-
the European Union to tional rescue loans.
reboot the 60-year-old Reinforcing his message,
bloc with sweeping politi- Macron urged the Inter-
cal reforms or risk a “slow national Monetary Fund to
disintegration.”Macron, on step back from its role in Eu-
a visit Thursday to Athens, ropean bailouts — break-
urged EU nations to carry ing with a widely accept-
out six-month national re- ed policy adopted when
views on EU reforms before Greece sought internation-
imposing them — signaling al help seven years ago.
his distance with the Ger- “I don’t think it was the
man-backed approach right method for the IMF
based on fiscal discipline to supervise European pro-
within the eurozone. grams and intervene in the
“It would be a mistake to way it did,” he said. “Let’s
abandon the European work within Europe and not
ideal,” Macron said. “We turn to outside agencies.”
must rediscover the en- The eurozone rescue fund,
thusiasm that the union the European Stability
was founded upon and Mechanism, should play
change, not with techno- the lead role in financial
crats and not with bureau- rescue within the euro cur-
cracy.” rency zone, he said.
Elected by a landslide in France, Europe’s No. 2
May, the 39-year-old Ma- economy, had previously
cron has vowed to back backed Germany’s insis-
efforts for closer integration tence in involving the IMF
in the EU, which has been to enforce austerity mea-
rattled by a financial crisis, sures that came with bail-
migration issues, a populist out programs in Greece
backlash and Britain’s de- and other rescued econo-