EU President Donald Tusk spoke openly in a farewell speech against the blockade of French President Macron for admitting Northern Macedonia and Albania to the European Union. He also disagrees with Macron's plea against the United States in NATO and for better relations with Russia.
Looking back at his position as president of the EU summits, he said he was concerned about the French blockage of Northern Macedonia and Albania. Tusk also rejected Macron's plea for a revision of relations with Russia, which has been hit by European sanctions since the annexation of Crimea and the interference in Ukraine.
With his criticism, Tusk more or less agrees with the earlier reactions of various EU ministers and government leaders, including the German Chancellor Merkel, the Dutch Prime Minister Rutte and EU committee chairman Ursula von der Leyen. They disagree with Macron's reasoning that first reforms are needed within EU before work can be done on possible admission of new member states.
In an article in the magazine of a Dutch international think tank, the Dutch MEP Kati Piri called the decision not to start the accession procedures a 'strategic blunder'. According to Piri that is harmful to the credibility of the EU. According to her, this means that those countries are more likely to turn to Russia, China and Turkey for making international agreements.
According to Piri, the fact that France and the Netherlands were blocking the accession has to do with the fact that the population in those countries is not positive about the accessions. Especially in France the fear of losing votes to the Rassemblement National of Marine Le Pen is great.
Retiring EU President Tusk put forward in his farewell speech the Brexit negotiations and the retention of sanctions against Russia as important elements of his goal: to preserve European unity. Tusk again resisted a Europe with different speeds, or a Europe in which Germany and France let the rights of the strongest prevail.
He called it the biggest post-war mistake by the British to think that they will be a superpower again after they leave the European Union. Tusk often heard Brexiteers say that departure from EU would be necessary to make the United Kingdom a world power again. According to Tusk, the opposite is true: the British only matter on the world stage as part of the EU.
According to Tusk, Great Britain can only play a role on the world stage as part of a united Europe and face the superpowers without complexes. And the same can be said of France and Germany, he added. A month before the British parliamentary elections, the Pole does not give up hope for a turnaround.