(Strasbourg) “I don’t want to belong to a generation of sleepwalkers”, a generation that “has forgotten its past, and doesn’t see the present. I want to belong to a generation that defends European democracy”. French President Emmanuel Macron took part in a debate at the European Parliament in Strasbourg today on the European Union’s future, delivering a vigorous pro-European speech. “There seems to be a sort of European civil war”, President Macron said, fuelled by “nationalism and egotism”. But the profound transformations underway and the “geopolitical threats we experience give the EU a new and increased responsibility”. Mr Macron mentioned global warming, economic and trade issues, public health, energy, the digital revolution… “For these reasons, and in view of the 2019 European elections, we must defend Europe’s democracy”, reviving it with a new project and “building European sovereignty to protect citizens and respond to their anxieties and expectations”. “Our Identity – he continued – is rooted in liberal democracy. Faced with authoritarianism, the answer is not democratic authoritarianism, but the authority of democracy”.