That is the coronavirus outbreak and relations with turkey and russia at the Atlantic Council in washington, d. C. From earlier this month, this is about 90 minutes. The director of the future initiative here at the Atlantic Council. And its really my pleasure to host today the minister of state for European Affairs of the french republic for a conversation about france, europe, and the transatlantic relation. As you know, here at the Atlantic Council, we value european allies, we value u. S. Engagement, and the future of the initiative is to precisely make the case that the European Union is a key and critical Strategic Partner of the United States. Part of our role is to discipline the developments within the European Union and to engage policy makers and create a bridge and dialogue between policy makers of the United States and europe, especially in times of great power coalition. President macron in france has laid out ambitious agenda for engagement of partners like russia, reforming the eurozone, and these are issues well discuss today with the ministers. Let me first turn to madame to start with initial remarks and well open to a conversation with all of you and thank you very much. Thank you for hosting me and thank you for taking time today to talk about whats happening in europe and to also see what the transatlantic friendship can mean to carry the voice of france in europe, but also was we see today in the u. S. Coming to the u. S. For me holds a very special meaning, because its actually in the u. S. I started thinking actively about the european identity and more openings to give the projects more life i was a student in 2013, and at the time, Many American students who tell me and to my friends, european friends, that we were lucky, because as we had left the whole ward, we could now in the u. S. Have a future with success. So we wanted to show them, also, a future back in europe. Thats why we created the European Conference at harvard and i would be the keynote to open it. So seven years later, i think this opportunity to com back from this side of the atlantic from europe and there is no better place to be in the u. S. As europeans and look back and ask what we have achieved. When i look back, i see in past years, europeans have kbn to understand that there can be a european way. That we must pave our own way to stay relevant. And the most important way is the way that europeans are changing the way they look at themselves and starting to see europe capable of being strong and sovereign. Indeed, we often dont see ourselves as being powerful. When you look at europe, you probably see facts, you see 450 million citizens. You see 27 countries united around a common political project and you see a quarter of the world gdp, the biggest training block. But when we europeans look at ourselv ourselves, we often didnt see this power. We saw doubts, divisions, disagreements, difficulty to fight consensus on important decisions and this is changing because my president is putting a lot of energy to show that we can use the capabilities that we have, the power we already have, to take initiative. One example is the european martime mission in the straight of hormuz. Its also what we do in sale. Its also what weve done, jointly, also to evacuate citizens from china. Its also what what we are trying to do now around the coronavirus. These are small examples, but examples of the many situations where europe is back and in capacity to take initiatives. But what has changed the most in my view and what i take from the 11 months i now have as minister for france is that everywhere in europe, there is an opportunity to act and make our own decisions. And this is what i take from the many meetings i have been having all around europe in the 27 Member States and i have not been to all of them, but quite to all of them. And everywhere i feel that there is a growing consensus around what we call the agenda if european sovereignty. This is what i want to tell you about in a few words and im sure we have time for questions. For me, european being sovereign means three things. The first, it means that we need to have the will to find as europeans the answers to the main challenges of our time and to propose a european way to go on Climate Change. And two days ago, the European Commission proposed its climate law, its way to implement its green deal to be Carbon Neutral by 2019. And why respecting human values, privacy also, fair taxation is of the essence. And how do we ensure to people that when they work, they can live above the poverty line and we can ensure to them social progress and social justice. It also goes to migration. Where we want to propose a solution, which is both efficient, humane, organized, which is a bundle of solidarity and responsibility. So second, how do we ensure the conditions of our autonomy . No sovereign power is independent from others. This is why weapon want to invest in the common policy. In terms of technology. In certain sectors, take for instance electric batteries. We have also in terms of strategy to defend ourselves. This is why were trying to build defense capacity. We also want to have a trade policy that is consistent with our build. Also, making climate an essential claus, as the Paris Agreement is not an anecdotal decoration setting. Its a decor of the autonomy we want to build and provide with our partners. Its also goes with the protection of democracy, notably to protect the elections, the processes that are now being sometimes interfered. And the third way to think about european sovereignty is to be able to protect our own interests. For instance, and taking responsibility for our neighborhood, and we refer to it in the questions you might have but also taking initiatives as europeans, making our voice heard on the international stage, to defend militaryism, to defend biodiversity, to defend a number of topics where we see our interests at stake, but we need also to engage our partners. , st its also a way to invent a relationship with the united kingdom. We dont want to punish the british people. We dont want to win and for them to lose. What we want is a way to protect our citizens, our farmers, our businesses who never asked to have a brexit. And we would not understand that we sign a deal where for decades after they would suffer from unfair competition. This is our agenda for sovereignty. Citizens in may 19, they went to the stations and gave a signal, which was not the one many people were expecting. People were expecting the populo populous, taenteuropeans to win. But if people gave us this trust for us to be on an agenda, we have to be achieving concrete results. Because for me, what is even more important than the initial goals that we have set for ourselves and i have discussed, it is the obligation to obtain results, because our citizens will not accept that european continues to make promise s without delivering tangible change. And for me the biggest threat to europe is not so much a discussion between big powers, its the lack of trust of its own citizens in the fact that this project is protecting them on a daily basis very clearly, very concretely. For me in my daily life, in my daily job, if i can call it so, we are trying to have a new method of work, to be able to achieve more quickly majorities. To build coalitions where we can go faster from a proposal to an agreement to implementation. It means that im trying not to believe that there is magic in brufls. Not just because heads of state and governments will come to this europa building. That during the night they will fight by chance the agreements that nobody could have built before. So gradually, we are trying to innovate dploiplomatically. So we increase the circle. At the beginning it was two countries. Then eight, nine, 20, 24, then at the end, 28. Its a method. Its a process. And this is the way we can provide more trust and more capacity to show that we can move forward for them. And not only as european, sometimes for signing treaties and doing diplomatic relations. This is not about diplomatic relations. It is a part of it, but the most part of the european project is to provide protection and outcome for the people. So when i just to finish, i also want to share a discussion that i have been having here with american officials, congressmen, business leaders. We discuss in details all the topics where europe and the United States do not see exactly eyetoeye at the moment. We discuss climate, defense, trade, meteorological institutions, issues like iran, syria and at the end, my main message to all was that we see that the increase are increase following their national interest, which is perfectly joimt. But this is the way and this is the reason why we need also as european to protect our interests. And our interests is to have a Strong Partnership and is to have a strong alliance. The alliance between europe and the america will be strong if europe is strong. If we can genuinely protect our own interests in a dialogue where we see ourselves as equals. Its a new situation. We need to learn, to decide for ourselves and to propose solutions to our partners. To not just wait, that they define the road map and we can just follow being allies doesnt mean to be followers, it means to Work Together and fulfill common goals that we have set for ourselves. It doesnt mean to cut our ties and our relationship and friendship with longstanding allies with the u. S. To conclude, as you see, this idea of sovereignty is not opposed to a transatlantic relationship. I think the president has always said that the u. S. Is and will remain a major partner, a partner which we need and with whom we share the same values. And i think we will stay transatlantic and become more european. Its not a but, its an end. It goes together. Take the example of european defense. We have to invest more to take military action together. By doing this, were not weak g weakening the transatlantic alliance. Were making it stronger. We are stronger allies, and we can continue together on the basis of genuine shared interest. We are ready to take up our own responsibility where they diverge. And i believe it will make the transatlantic relationship more balanced, more interesting, probably also more ambitious, because it will they be be following the objective we want to achieve together. With this, you know, its an introduction of the state of mind, kmiwhich is mine at the moment, but im happy to have an open, lively discussion with all of you. Im happy to see you are all very interested with europe and im ready to share with you what we tried to do back on the old continent. Thank you very much. Thank you, minister. And you really insisted both on how ambitious the european agenda it is and how central it is to macrons agenda, but innovating methods, formats, and i think its interesting, too, to have this conversation with you, because you sort of embody also a new generation of political leaders that came with president macrons election in 2017, coming with the private sector and being elected and now a minister on these issues that are so central to the chairman. Im sure were going to talk more about this with all of you. But my first action, before going into more strategic issues, obviously, europe is going through two major crisis right now, that i would like to ask you about. The first is the response to the coronavirus, which is a global crisis, not specifically a european one. But it strikes once again at the heart of the common project, she think shengyen, open borders, something that would qualify why the eu is useful. Being able to have technical changes between countries. But it seems on the contrary that its once again fueling populist anger in europe. I would love to have your thoughts and on how europe is responding and should respond to this crisis. Well, thank you very much. At the current moment where we speak, the Health Ministers of the 27 countries are meeting in brussels. Its the third meeting they have together in the last two or three weeks. They are permanently in contact. But there is no european competence. Its a scenario where the European Institution provide the setting, the place, the safe place where we can exchange as governance. But there is no infrastructure for tackling precisely a pandemic at a european escape. We have symptoms of of Civil Protection mechanisms that were used typically to repatriate european citizens from china. Just for you to know, the planes were french, but the people were all europeans, and we have a system where the european budget was funding 75 of the costs to make sure that those investoring for the infrastructure, like france, repaid in a way to provide this infrastructure for the whole benefits of the whole european citizens. So what were trying to do at the moment is to coordinate. And to provide the most coordinated frame work, so as decisions are made consistently with scientific background and without too much dispersion. Typically on borders, it was always discussed by all the countries together on how to manage the flows of people. How to organize the quaurantine, how to make something consistent. If you were in lomlombardia two weeks ago, if you are french or german or a slovak, we tried to provide a unified set of measures, so people understand that things are being done in a consistent manner. We also at the moment were working collectively at the medical equipment, on the mask, on the solutions. To control and maybe you can see that its a ban to exports in between countries. That was not the objective. The objective is first to make sure that we have in all countries, capacity to produce and to export in particular to European Countries and not elsewhere. So we are also learning by doing. Because its a scenario where there is no european competence. But its very useful to have these discussions going. What i also see is this crisis will also probably lead us to be more sovereignty and autonomy of production in some goods, because after, you know, fukushima, we also tested how integrated our value chains were, but also how far they could be, because sometimes we lack one, you know, manufacturing one country and you see consequences for everybody. I think we will probably test again the places, the segments, the value chains where we need to have european production back on the european continent, to make sure we can sustain a number of services and goods for the citizens. So i think we will learn with it. We try to have a balance between precaution, but not panic. Also to be clear that we will not close europe for six months. We need to provide to the people, you know, services. We need to economy to continue to keep functioning. So we are at the stage which is given the number of people infected, i know and understand to be the u. S. Case, but thats the way we are proceeding. The other crisis i want to ask you about, obviously, is once again, the consequences of the crisis in syria and the fighting between russian and turkish troops in idlib and a potential new migration crisis in greece and bulgaria. Weve seen, obviously, the leaders of the European Union go to greece, affirm their solidarity. I would love to hear your thoughts on, first, what do you think is the risk of a new migration crisis, how the European Union can respond to it. But also more broadly how the eu can be more assertive and play a role in syria with a conflict thats been going on for a decade with direct consequences for european security. First, in syria, we need a political transition. And this is the constant position we have been holding for many, many months, many, many years, even, to provide a political framework to the conflicts and to find a framework to exit this condition of, you know, extreme violence and dead people and humanitarian crisis. We were supporting the action of the turks in the idlib reign, because we were seeing it as a way to protect the population against the regime and action. What we see at the greek Turkish Border is we all know about it. It was an organized flow of people that were refugees in turkey for quite a while. There are 3. 6 million people, which are displaced people in turkey. Where europe, as you know, is investing money to provide to them humanitarian conditions, which we try to be as best as possible, as good as possible. Were getting scheduling, so we saw the regime, the turkish regime bringing these people to the border, to a place where we all know the border is closed. It was a form of blackmail. It was a way no put pressure on the europeans, for potentially go and talk to mr. Putin to take action in a way which we thought was not appropriate. So the message of europe so far has been we understand the game in which we are being placed. We dont want to play this game. So we are very strong in not playing the game of the blackmailing away that were put on our shoulders. We are at the moment today we have a special meeting of the Foreign Affairs ministers at the european level. You would see the communique. I cannot tell you detail what is allowed because that i saw the photographic and ill tell you the cop collusion conclusion point. But it was making sure that the humanitarian response in europe was strong. Can bring support in danger in idlib and also in turkey. Its a question of money. Its not money for the turkish regime, but for the people on the turkish soil. When it comes to the migration part, we are working for many months for this new migration pact. The proposal, the European Commissions to come in the coming weeks. Probably early may maximum and the plan we are pushing is a plan to overcome the big divide and divisions we lived in 2015. At a moment where we couldnt organize both the solidarity and what we calm the responsibility. It was signed the day the same year i was born. At that time, people had a good intuition. They said we need to provide internal Free Movement because well have external strong borders. Its not a question of being a fortress or putting people back in the country. I its a question of efficiency and who is knowing who is