Why 2022 could see the end of Macron’s European dream

Emmanuel Macron faces an “all or nothing” year in 2022, with his big plans for the European Union dependent on whether he can get re-elected as France’s president. “If he loses the elections in April, it is the end of his French presidency, it is the end of his dreams for Europe, and it would be the last we hear of the mercurial Mr Macron,” says James Crisp, The Telegraph’s Europe Editor. Mr Macron is now the EU’s “most influential leader” after Angela Merkel, the German chancellor, stepped down after 16 years as “Europe’s biggest beast”. The timing is good for him, with France taking up a rotating presidency of the EU, and an opportunity to push “his vision of a Europe that protects”.