Conseil européen informel à Copenhague au Danemark.

Emmanuel MACRON
Thank you, Madam la Première ministre. Thank you, Mette. Thank you for your introduction and for this Copenhagen Pledge. 

Look, I totally share first the assessment of what Madam Prime Minister just said. What is the roadmap for all of us ? We want to be more competitive, because this is the only way to have growth, to create jobs, to finance our social model and the future of young people. We want to be more sovereign because we experienced during the past few years the cost of dependencies, Covid time, war in Ukraine, instabilities of this world, and we want to meet with our commitments on climate change. We have to decarbonize. It's clear because it's as well about our future. 

In order to deal with that and with these three objectives, we have to innovate much more and we have to be much more efficient, because, I think, the main figures were mentioned by Jacob about the big gap with the U.S. A third of this gap in terms of GDP per capita difference is due to the quantity of work, but two-thirds is due to the lack of innovation and efficiency of our own markets. So, we live in a world of uncertainties, and this is not a purpose today to revert on these uncertainties tariffs and so on, but we put too many tariffs on our economies ourselves. We know exactly what we have to do. It's well established in Letta report, Draghi report, and so on. 

Now the question is how to deliver. And this is the agenda we work on with the leaders and with the Commission, and it's a days and weeks issue. I want to insist on that because, for me, the end of this year is absolutely critical to deliver this agenda. First, this is simplification. I agree with you. It's not brand new. We don't speak about moonshots, but it's just to resynchronize our economies with the rest of the world in terms of : sometimes timelines, regulation issue on trials and so on, but as well CSRD, CSDDD, simplification regarding the stock of the European legislation. It's super important. 

Second, the deepening of the single market. Everywhere we still have barriers, we kill the potential for all of you to have a domestic market of 450 million citizens. This is the biggest market, the biggest developed market, with 23 million businesses and 450 million inhabitants. In a lot of sectors, we still have too many barriers, too many regulators, and so on. So this is our agenda, and in this regard, the implementation of a 28th regime is clearly a very important move forward, and we back this approach. But telco and energy, as mentioned, are as well key focus to deliver that. 

Third, innovation. Quantum, AI, healthcare, defense, green tech : on these five sectors which are key to deliver our common agenda, we have to innovate much more. It's all about talents. We have the talents, we train them, we want to keep them. Scale. So on this key issues, this is where we have to focus clearly our energy to reduce the barriers. Speed. And everywhere we are lagging behind China and all U.S. in terms of legal timelines, we will lose. And finance. This is why the fourth point is about Capital market union. It's a very important point in this competitiveness and growth agenda. 

Today we have a strong alignment amongst all of us. So, it's simplification of the current regulation, because you were right : 75% of the financing of the economies in Europe are financed through banks and insurance. And we put ourselves a regulation not to finance anything in equity through banks and insurance. So, simplification of this regulation, securitization program to be delivered end of the year at our level and submitted next year to become a reality in 2026. And obviously the capital market union itself, with the reform of the supervision and simplification of our procedures, and incentives to go to equity and innovation. We are the biggest place for savings, but a third of these savings just go to finance bonds and equity elsewhere, which is crazy. And the rest is largely over-financing our own bonds and not sufficiently our technologies. 

Fifth, climate and energy. And this is the work we will finalize in the weeks to come to have enablers, but it's clear that if we want to deliver, and we are committed to this agenda, we have to work very hard. I don't want to be too long, but we have few moonshots on climate and energy and decarbonization in terms of financing and organization. 

And my last point is about European preference. It was recently an awful word, totally impossible to be pronounced in a business meeting. But this is a necessity because we are the unique crazy place where we don't protect our domestic players. In the U.S., you have a U.S. agenda. In China, it's no more « Chinese preference ». It's a Chinese exclusivity sometimes. In Europe, this is the only place where you can finance with the taxpayer money 100% non-European players. This is the only place where you put regulations on your players, but at the same time you negotiate the lifting of barriers with non-European players with a double standard. This is impossible just to pursue such an approach. And what we are doing on steel, for instance, is a very important point because this is just protecting our players. It's not protectionism. This is part of this resynchronization. We have to accelerate, we have to innovate, we have to finance much more. We have to clearly be super innovative, but at the same time, if we want to remain sovereign, we have to protect the existing players when they suffer about the absence of level playing field. What we started with the Chinese EVs, what we follow with the steel today is exactly what we have to do sector by sector, because this protection and this European preference are key elements of this competitiveness agenda. 
I don't want to be longer. I think the agenda is quite clear and the roadmap is quite consensual. Now the main issue for us is implementation and speed. And this is why we will focus in the weeks to come to deliver this agenda in order to put it in strong regulations at the European level, in order, sometimes to deregulate, but to have clarification of that and make it real. I don't want to be longer. I want to thank you, Mette, to start this informal council and the summit of the European political community with precisely this business meeting and the opportunity to answer the Copenhagen Pledge. 

Thank you. 

Emmanuel MACRON
Écoutez, on va se réunir, et c'est une occasion importante d'avoir d'abord un Conseil européen informel, puis une réunion de la Communauté politique européenne. Et je veux remercier sa majesté le Roi de nous accueillir ce soir, tous les membres de la Communauté politique européenne, et Madame la première ministre de nous réunir avec le président Costa pour ce Conseil. 

D'abord, nos travaux seront dédiés au soutien à l'Ukraine et à l'Europe de la défense. Deux sujets essentiels sur lesquels nous avons beaucoup poussé, ce qui permettra de faire le point sur les travaux de la coalition des volontaires, sur l'action que nous menons au soutien de l'Ukraine, sur les initiatives que nous voulons prendre aussi d'un point de vue opérationnel et financier. 

Ensuite, il y a le développement d'une Europe de la défense. On s'est doté de capacités nouvelles, avec, vous savez, ces prêts exceptionnels que nous sommes collectivement prêts à faire pour soutenir des programmes de défense, le programme D-SAFE, avec une préférence européenne, ce qui était un tabou jusque-là. Et donc, on va déployer, sur la base d'un concept stratégique partagé, des programmes pour mieux protéger les Européens. Et au fond, c'est un peu la garantie de sécurité des Européens pour eux-mêmes dans le contexte de cette guerre et pour le jour d'après.

Journaliste
Monsieur le Président, un mot sur l'interception de ce navire fantôme russe. Qu'est-ce que vous pouvez nous en dire  ?

Emmanuel MACRON
Écoutez, je peux vous en dire que c'est évidemment ce qu'il faut faire, qu'il y a eu des fautes très importantes qui ont été commises par cet équipage, ce qui justifie d'ailleurs que la procédure soit judiciarisée aujourd'hui, puisque vous avez vu qu'il y a eu une communication de la justice. En tout cas, les équipes d'intervention ont agi en temps et en heure. Mais ça manifeste la présence et la réalité d'un phénomène qu'on décrit, qu'on dénonce depuis longtemps, qui fait partie des sanctions que nous prenons, c’est la lutte contre ces fameuses flottes fantômes, qui représentent des dizaines de milliards d'euros pour le budget de la Russie, qui financent, selon nos évaluations collectives, 40 % de l'effort de guerre russe et on a entre 600 et 1 000 bateaux qui circulent comme ça et qui permettent aux hydrocarbures russes de cheminer, y compris quand ils sont interdits. Donc, je pense que c'est une bonne chose que ce travail ait été fait et qu'on ait pu l'interrompre.

Journaliste
Quelle est votre position sur le gel des avoirs russes  ? 

Emmanuel MACRON
D'abord, je pense que nous avons besoin de rester une place attractive et fiable, nous, Européens. C'est-à-dire que quand des avoirs sont gelés, on respecte le droit international, c'est ce qu'a rappelé aussi le premier ministre belge. La deuxième chose, c'est qu'on doit donner de la visibilité à l'Ukraine en termes de financement. Et donc, c'est une très bonne chose que nous ayons une capacité financière à offrir pour accompagner son équipement en matière de défense, ses efforts macro-financiers. Et à ce titre, ce que la Commission a travaillé, qui permet d'aller chercher de la dette sur les marchés en commun, et de le faire en ayant une garantie du budget européen et des États membres, est une très bonne chose.

Journaliste
Comment doit se construire la réponse européenne  ? 

Emmanuel MACRON
La réponse européenne doit être opérationnelle, c'est-à-dire qu'il ne faut n'avoir aucune faiblesse. Je pense qu'il faut redire que toute personne qui viole l'espace aérien européen est susceptible d'avoir des représailles parce que c'est notre droit et nous ferons respecter l'espace aérien européen, et c'est de continuer de nous équiper. Tout ça, ce qui s'est passé ces dernières semaines en Pologne, en Roumanie, en Estonie, et également, même si elles ne sont pas aujourd'hui attribuées, les incursions de drones au Danemark, montre que nous avons besoin de systèmes de pré-alerte très efficaces et de coopérer entre nous pour protéger notre espace commun. Et tout ça est très cohérent avec les équipements que nous sommes en train de déployer et les systèmes que nous sommes en train de prévoir.

En tout cas, nous sommes dans une confrontation avec la Russie qui, depuis plusieurs années, est un acteur très agressif dans notre espace informationnel, on l'a vu, dans le cadre des élections comme ailleurs, qui multiplie les attaques cyber, qui, évidemment, a lancé une guerre d'agression en Ukraine, qui utilise la menace nucléaire et qui, aujourd'hui, on le voit bien, provoque dans des espaces aériens. Tout ça est un ensemble hybride qui est dans le champ de la confrontation.

Journaliste  
M. le Président, quel est actuellement le défi le plus fort quand il s'agit de la construction d'un mur de drones Européen  ?

Emmanuel MACRON
Je me méfie parfois des termes un peu rapides. Est-ce qu'il y a des dômes de fer qui existent pour les Européens ou des murs de drones  ? Les choses sont plus sophistiquées et plus complexes. En réalité, il nous faut avoir des systèmes d'alerte pré-avancés pour mieux anticiper la menace, ils existent. Techniquement, il faut les développer en commun. Il faut dissuader avec des capacités de tir de longue portée, des capacités balistiques européennes. Il faut que nous ayons plus de systèmes de défense sol-air et de défense anti-drone. Donc il y a à la fois de l'innovation, mais il y a aussi de la capacité de production européenne. Et la dissuasion nucléaire fait partie de cet ensemble aussi dans le domaine de la dissuasion et du non-conventionnel. Donc si vous voulez, c'est un ensemble d'observations, de pré-alertes, de défense et de capacité de dissuasion dont les Européens doivent se doter. C'est ce que nous sommes en train de faire. En tout cas, nous sommes en train d'avancer à marche forcée pour avoir des capacités supplémentaires de drones, d'abord pour aider l'Ukraine, mais aussi pour nous-mêmes, et pour développer des systèmes de plus en plus performants anti-drones.
 
Journaliste
Organizations are setting up a new monetary, economic and political system which coheres with the idea of a new international security and development architecture. Do you think that Europe should signal to the global south that it is willing to cooperate on economic development tied with security  ? A peace through security idea that could help solve the problem of the crisis in Gaza  ?

Emmanuel MACRON
I really believe that we do cooperate and we want to increase the cooperation with countries and continents everywhere in this world to progress together on a peace agenda and an open fair-trade agenda. This is why we want to multiply this intimacy with ASEAN, CPTPP, the African countries, Latam countries. And I think this is a very important strategy which has nothing to be subtracted to our existing alliance in NATO but is a very important complement for the European Union and for the Europeans. And by the way, working as Europeans with the cooperation of all the Europeans, not just those being part and members of the EU is extremely important. This is why our European political community is so important because this is a way to cooperate from UK to Turkey. And when you speak about this existential threat for the Europeans, when you speak about cooperation against narcotraffic and we will work on that tomorrow against terrorist groups or against existential threat with some powers like Russia, this is absolutely critical. 

Journaliste
What is your reaction to many drone attacks in several Euro countries, including Denmark recently  ? What do you think about the many drone attacks  ? 

Emmanuel MACRON
Look, I was mentioning that to your colleagues. I think it means that we are tested in some countries, it's clearly established and linked to Russia. In some other countries like yours, I remain very careful, but it means that we have to improve our equipment collectively and cooperate to have early warning system, much more anti drone system and much more capacities as well to deter our enemies and proper cooperation. And this is why the meeting this afternoon is so important. 

Journaliste
Do you suspect Russia being behind  ?

Emmanuel MACRON
I will be very cautious. I don't want to attribute.

Journaliste
Mister President, what (inaudible) question from (inaudible) TV. France has launched an investigation into a Russian shadow vessel that has been sailing in Danish waters and which is now anchored at the French coast. What can you tell us about this investigation and is there a link with the strong incursions that we have seen in the Danish airspace  ?

Emmanuel MACRON
It is not me to establish this link and I will remain very careful, but I think our navy it’s in his job and it was a very important operation. Now it's under the control of our justice. And this is the best evidence of the fact that in the Baltic Sea, in the North Sea, in the Atlantic Ocean, Mediterranean Sea, you have a lot of vessels precisely being part of this shadow fleet. Our assessment is that something between 600 and 1,000 boats are part of this shadow fleets and they do contribute to the financing of the Russian economy and the Russian war effort, probably at least for a third of this war effort. So, if we want to be efficient, we have to sanction these boats, insurance companies, the ports. This is what we are doing. And by the way, we do it with the 19th package of sanctions. But we have as well to cooperate and organize ourselves in order collectively to be much more efficient and to be sure that all these boats are compliant with our international routes and national routes. It was not the case for this operation. And obviously everything we can establish and clarify after the drone attack for Denmark, we will do it, be sure. And I want here to reiterate all my solidarity. We provided some equipment for the protection of your air in the days to come in the context of this summit. You are a very strong and very well-equipped country with a very impressive army. But we will cooperate on all these issues. 

Journaliste
What do you think about this Russian to send long-range missiles from the United States to Ukraine  ? What is the possibility  ?

Emmanuel MACRON
I think all the discussions which allow Ukrainians to resist much more efficiently and end this war are good discussions. 

Journaliste
The coalition is, comparing the times we're in right now, to the one leading up to World War II. Do you agree with that comparison  ?

Emmanuel MACRON
I think we all have to be very cautious, because we are in a time of confrontation with a lot of hybridity. This is why we have to be strong to deter any aggressions, but we have to remain all very cautious and avoid any escalation. Thank you. Merci beaucoup.