22 September 2026

While the pro-Russian, anti-European Alternative for Germany is enjoying major electoral success in German local elections, a new vision for the EU has been formulated in France. Carl-Vincent Reimers writes about Europe’s new visionary.

There was a palpable sense of frustration in Ursula von der Leyen’s voice when she delivered her major speech on the state of the EU to the European Parliament in Strasbourg on Wednesday.

The reason for this was summed up quite well by von der Leyen herself – quoting Charles Dickens, she stated that Europe has never been as strong as it is now, yet at the same time never as fragile.

In recent years, Europe has lagged behind in growth and innovation, finding itself overtaken by China and the US. The Union has failed to transform its vast market into a geopolitical lever for global influence. At the same time, there is a realisation of what needs to be done, both in Brussels and in the Member States. Put simply, this means implementing the reforms proposed by Mario Draghi in his major report on Europe’s competitiveness in 2024.

Despite this, only 15% of the reforms set out in the Draghi report have been fully implemented. So why is progress so slow?

The question touches on the very raison d’être of the European project. Just a few days after the speech, von der Leyen’s own party, the CDU, suffered a major setback when it was effectively wiped off the political map in the state election in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. Instead, the biggest winner was Alternative for Germany (AfD), a pro-Russian far-right party that opposes the EU as such.

To prevent the AfD and its like-minded counterparts from becoming the norm in European politics of tomorrow, there is therefore a broad realisation amongst Europe’s centre-right that economic stagnation must be reversed – in Germany as well as in Europe.

But how is this to be achieved?

An interesting answer to that question is now coming from Macron’s French movement, which in recent years has distinguished itself as the most visionary in European politics.

Around the same time the AfD was chilling the champagne in Schwerin, the French presidential candidate Gabriel Attal delivered a passionate speech at the space company Latitude in Reims. Behind him were models of satellites capable of rivalling Elon Musk’s, and two flags: one French, one European. Attal served briefly as Prime Minister and was a member of the Socialist Party until 2016, before joining Macron’s centrist-liberal party, Renaissance. He now aims to win the 2027 presidential election by positioning himself as France’s most visionary European.

In his keynote speech, Attal levelled harsh criticism at von der Leyen. He emphatically stated that a Europe of nation-states has failed to lay the foundations for prosperity. If Europe is not to become ‘the 51st state of the USA or the 24th province of China’, we need to take the full step towards a ‘United States of Europe’.

Attal is absolutely right that Draghi’s vision of a fully harmonised market and a Europe that once again builds American-style prosperity can only be realised if we learn from the Americans’ greatest strength: federalism.

The solution is as simple in theory as it is difficult in practice: remove all barriers that hinder free movement and competition in Europe’s single market, first and foremost all national special provisions. This also entails a fully European company law, common European taxes, and a European capital market governed by federal rules.

With this speech, Attal is now taking up the mantle from Macron as the most visionary leader in European politics, and is even going further than his mentor. Macron also believes in a united Europe, but would never dare to utter the word ‘federalism’.

The question, however, is whether this is a vision that Europe needs.

Whilst Attal is absolutely right in arguing that a federal market is needed, he is completely wrong in his vision of how this market should be governed. Not least when he identifies a detailed industrial policy ‘involving planning, sector by sector’ as essential for creating European companies capable of competing with the US and China.

A belief in state interventionism in industrial policy may be natural for a Frenchman who grew up with memories of prestigious state projects such as the TGV and Minitel, but that is not where today’s European success stories are to be found.

The strength of a federal market lies precisely in the fact that it need not be micromanaged, other than through basic rules. It was, after all, this ‘ordoliberalism’ that once guided the emergence of Europe’s single market.

If Attal truly believes in federalism, he should instead look at what sets apart those countries that are bucking the European trend of stagnation. Among them is Sweden. The Nordic country has succeeded because it has a well-functioning capital market, simple rules for share trading, an entrepreneurial culture, and good tax incentives for business angels – not because of large-scale, state-led industrial policy. In other words, everything that France wishes it had but does not.

It now remains to be seen whether Attal’s vision can win over more European leaders as frustration at the slow pace of reform becomes increasingly apparent. But his ‘United States of Europe’ would undoubtedly stand a better chance of becoming a unifying vision if it were a little more Swedish and a little less French.

The French may well have been right in recognising the importance of the strategic state in geopolitics, but when it comes to dynamic capitalism, it is Sweden that is the moral leader.

If this is not part of the liberal vision for Europe, we will soon find ourselves unable to launch satellites or win the hearts of Europeans.

This blog post was written by Carl-Vincent Reimers, Epicenter Research Fellow and Programme Manager for European affairs at Timbro. Timbro is the Swedish member of EPICENTER. To read this article in Swedish, click here.