Macron struggles to turn EU speech-making into action

It was billed as his founding speech for Europe. But 12 months after newly-elected Emmanuel Macron laid out his vision for a deeper, stronger EU, the French president is fighting a lonely battle, analysts say.

Over 100 minutes at the Sorbonne University in Paris, with the stars of the EU flag behind him, Macron made an impassioned plea last September for members of the bloc to go further in linking their economies, governments and armies.

"When you read his speech it was clear that he wanted to lead the EU in tandem with Germany," Judy Dempsey, an expert at the Carnegie Europe think-tank, told AFP.

"He was saying to Chancellor Merkel: 'let's deliver together'. And it just hasn't happened."
"He shares the same diagnosis (as eurosceptics) that Europe is dysfunctional, but faced with that, we have two choices: one consists of killing the system, the other reforming it profoundly."