French President Emmanuel Macron supports EU treaty change

France’s President Emmanuel Macron threw his weight on Monday behind proposals from a citizens’ panel to reform the European Union, and said the EU’s guiding treaties would need to change.

“We need to reform our texts, it’s obvious,” he told a meeting at the European Parliament.

A dozen EU capitals had publicly opposed treaty reform, which could trigger referendums in some member states.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen had said earlier on Monday that unanimity voting on key EU policy areas no longer made sense if the EU wanted to be able to move faster.

European Union citizens would like the 27-nation bloc to become fairer, show greater solidarity, lead the fight against climate change and make swifter decisions, even if it means scrapping the need for unanimity on some issues, an EU report showed.