The Dutch prime minister — who was speaking at the annual congress of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE) — did not name Macron in the speech but at one point indicated his skepticism for the idea of “democratic conventions” that was “coming from France.”
Taken together, the speech is a strong rebuff to Macron’s ambitious and detailed reform agenda, which includes a wide range of policies from introducing a new class of transnational MEPs to the creation of a common budget for the Eurozone. [...]
Rutte, who is a liberal like Macron, added that pushing for more European integration cannot be a goal in itself. “Integration for integration’s sake will only harm public support for the European Union. So before we develop new policy, before we set up new agencies, before we think up new rules and regulations, we need to ask ourselves: what problem does this truly solve?” [...]
Rutte also took a sideswipe at the EU’s conservative European People’s Party. He said he didn’t understand why the party of Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orbán was still a member of the mainstream political grouping despite his populist policies. “Why is he still a member of the EPP?,” Rutte asked, adding that it was strange that Orban participated in pre-summit meetings with his EPP colleagues.
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