This is Paul Adamson and I'm in conversation with Pierre Vimont.

Pierre Vément is a former French permanent representative to the European Union,

a former ambassador of France to the United States,

and was the first Executive Secretary General of the European External Action Service.

He has also served as chief of staff to three former French foreign ministers.

As we've established your credentials now appear, so let's get stuck in. In the course, this podcast,

if we have time, I'd like to touch on four broad areas. The impact of the newly elected French

President, Mr. Macron, on the future of Europe,

the revival or the perceived revival of the Franco-German axis, the reaction of the rest of the European Union to that revival of that axis,

and if you have time at the end, because I can't resist it, some views of yours, some wisdom on Brexit, on the rest of the European Union. So let's start, first of all,

in your view, we have clearly a very pro-European French president. He's clearly elected on a very

strong pro-European mandate. His party, the Republic of March, dominates the Assuminaacional. So your first

views in these early days of his presidency of the impact of President Macron

on the rest of the European Union, please.

I think there are two reasons for Macron's impact on the European affairs.

First of all, is that he put European affairs right in the center of his election campaign.

Nobody had ever dared do that. European affairs usually are

a main source of division among political parties in France, so they hesitate very much in talking

about European affairs. He dared do so, and he was victorious at the end of the day.

The second reason, I think, why it had such an impact, and this is interesting about what

we usually call the European democratic deficit, is that it seems to me that more and more

we're witnessing now in Europe a new political landscape which is encompassing all member states together.

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