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"Politico": Macron did not want Albania's integration
Emmanuel Macron will arrive in Brussels on Thursday for a key European Council meeting, without his former reputation as the "man of big ideas." This time he will have a different "nickname": the one who ruins everyone's "party."
As European Union leaders gather to devise plans in the face of existential crises, from the rise of the far right to stopping a bad Trump-Putin deal on Ukraine, they can no longer rely on Macron's grandiose ideas.
Conversations with 10 diplomats and officials from various EU countries, who spoke on condition of anonymity to openly discuss the French president's political fate, suggest that his domestic problems and focus on political legacy have turned him into an obstacle to the EU's progress.
Commission President Ursula von der Leyen's proposal for a "drone wall" that would protect European skies from increasingly present Russian drones?
Not realistic, according to Macron.
The idea of the President of the European Council, António Costa, to simplify the EU membership process by removing the necessity of a unanimous vote?
It's not even a question. France is not giving up its veto right.
Make our planet great again?
Maybe one day. But now is not the time for a directive that forces companies to monitor their global suppliers for human rights or environmental abuses. Nor for 2040 climate targets, for that matter.
Recently, Macron has become more cautious, rejecting proposals that could provoke a domestic backlash in France, and more sensitive to ideas that he does not fully control. France has instead focused its energy on streamlining bureaucracies.
This week, he is pushing for more controls on immigration and more regulation cuts, while lobbying for new rules to keep children off social media, and trying to create exemptions for car manufacturers from green targets. Hardly the European dream.
Macron earned the nickname "the EU's chief architect," and his outpouring of initiatives and ideas for reforming Europe defined his first term as a leader on the world stage.
But in October 2025, it is clear that politics and legacy have taken center stage in Macron's calculations.
Just look at the expansion.
Macron has long been a proponent of European Union enlargement as a way to increase the bloc's economic and geopolitical weight. He spearheaded the creation of the European Political Community as a kind of "waiting room" for countries aspiring to join the EU in 2022, and a year later promised to bring in candidate countries as soon as possible.
It is no wonder that his allies were surprised by France’s decision to oppose Costa’s proposal to lift Viktor Orbán’s veto on parts of the accession process. A senior figure from Macron’s Renew group in the European Parliament said the move was “in complete contradiction” to Macron’s previous pledges.
" It's a fundamental mistake, " he said.
According to a close ally of Macron, the French president simply no longer has the political capital to support some of his ambitions, especially those that could give ammunition to eurosceptics and Marine Le Pen's far-right.
" It's not the right moment, the far right is breathing down our necks ," said the ally.
“ Any discussion about Albania, Montenegro joining the European Union is a gift to… Le Pen ,” he added, noting that French farmers would be the first to take to the streets to protest the entry of Ukraine, the agricultural giant.
The influence in Brussels has been a casualty of the chaos in France. Macron has changed five prime ministers in less than two years and was on the verge of seeking a sixth after his current choice, Sébastien Lecornu, resigned after just 14 hours in office. Macron then reappointed Lecornu and the crisis eased, at least temporarily. /Taken with abbreviations from “ Politico ”
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