The agreement reached by the European Commission contains new provisions which seek to respond to the opponents of the agreement. But the process that must follow the political agreement reached on Friday is far from a done deal for the European executive.
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00:00The ceremony to re-open Notre Dame Cathedral brought world leaders and some big names to
00:07Paris last Saturday. It was almost an unofficial summit where bilateral and even trilateral
00:13meetings were held. However, one important figure was missing. The President of the European
00:18Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, was conspicuously absent from the prestigious occasion. She
00:24had been in Uruguay the day before to conclude a political free trade agreement with the
00:28South American countries of Mercosur, a text rejected by the French President. For some,
00:35von der Leyen is openly challenging Paris. For others, it was simply a scheduling problem
00:39that prevented her trip.
00:42There were scheduling issues. I have no information on the exact, what was exactly the scheduling
00:51issues, but that was the reason indeed. And as said, we had not yet formally confirmed
00:57the participation of the President.
01:00Ursula von der Leyen is criticized for announcing her trip to Montevideo at the last minute.
01:05But above all, this agreement comes at a time of political crisis in France, as the country
01:10is currently without a fully-fledged government. However, the French President's representatives
01:15in Brussels show that Emmanuel Macron still intends to prevent the text from being ratified.
01:23We have concrete issues that we raised a long time ago, so we continue to work on this
01:30and to show that, to really see that if the Commission moves forward on all this area
01:39or not. So, in fact, now, like I said, it's a new step. President Macron, but also French
01:47Minister will work on the Council level and me, I continue my job in the European Parliament.
01:55The political battle is far from over. The agreement must be ratified by the Member States.
02:01France is therefore trying to muster a blocking minority. If the capitals fail, Paris will
02:07have another opportunity to derail the text, since the Parliament also has to vote.
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