Macron calls for “European sovereignty”

French president Emmanuel Macron has called for to Europeans to build the European Union as a bulwark for liberal democracy. Speaking at the European Parliament in Strasbourg, Macron warned that what he called “selfish nationalism” was gaining ground and called for the “authority of democracy” to be the response to growing authoritarianism. The speech was one of several lined up by EU leaders to address the future of the union post-Brexit. In that context, Macron could not help remark on the UK’s desire to maintain close ties with the EU after its imminent withdrawal, saying that the best way to do retain a close relationship was to be a member. Reuters reports that among the list of policies that Macron wishes to see in the deeper integration of the EU are “new taxation of digital businesses, more support for refugees, closer cooperation in defence and a stronger common approach to running the EU’s single currency.” Macron’s pro-European address obviously pleased Jean-Claude Juncker, who told the parliament “the real France is back.”

Farage ruins lunch?

Whether Nigel Farage did in fact manage to ruin Macron’s lunch in Strasbourg, as he had promised The Telegraph, has not been reported. “Macron obviously doesn’t yet understand that the future of Europe will be Eurosceptic,” the former UKIP leader said ahead of Macron’s speech.

Balkans expansion progress

But Macron will have been less pleased with a report issued by the European Commission on Tuesday that formally recommends starting membership talks with Albania and Macedonia. Deutsche Welle reports that vice-president at the Commission for foreign affairs and security policy Federica Mogherini said the recommendation “is an encouragement to these countries to continue on the path of reforms.” And Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker warned that failure to encompass the western Balkans countries, including Bosnia, Kosovo, Serbia and Montenegro, could have tragic consequences. “I do not want to see war returning to the Balkans and so we need to open up to them,” he told the European Parliament. But Germany and France have voiced doubts about expansion to the east. In his address in Strasbourg on Tuesday, Emmanuel Macron said that a Union with 30 or 32 member states operating under the same rules “is simply not feasible.”

Ice hockey defeat

Luxembourg’s ice hockey team was beaten 7-1 by New Zealand at the Group B tournament of the IIHF World Championship Division II in Granada, Spain on Tuesday. It was the third big defeat for Luxemburg following 1-8 and 1-10 losses to Israel and Spain respectively. On Thursday the team takes on Mexico, who have also lost all three matches so far.

Get out of gym free

If you’ve had problems cancelling a gym membership, then we advise moving to Belgium. The country’s order of physicians has ruled that a doctor who wrote a medical note to help free a woman from her €70-a-month gym contract was not guilty of malpractice. The doctor said he had acted “out of social concern” for the woman, The Guardian reports.