Macron's imperative vision for Europe

Emmanuel Macron's initiative for a European revival expresses the French president's need to make his mark early as a reformer not only in his country but in the rest of the European Union as well. It is also part of a long line of French proposals to establish peace on the continent through the cooperation of its states. Speaking at the Sorbonne on Tuesday, Macron referred to Jean Monnet, one of the founding fathers of the EU after World War II, and Robert de Sorbon, who founded the university in the 13th century, to stress the need for a Europe of solidarity and unity, a Europe that is "just, protective and ambitious." He did not refer to another compatriot, the statesman Aristide Briand who in 1928 presented a proposal for a "European Federal Union."

Briand's proposal was a response to the Great War and to the realization that excessive nationalism and conflicting...