The European Union is in danger of being torn apart by a "civil war" between its liberal and authoritarian democracies, French President Emmanuel Macron has warned.
Speaking at the European Parliament in Strasbourg, the French president said the EU must "build a new European sovereignty" and launch the necessary reforms to save itself.
The enthusiastic Europhile received constant demonstrations and numerous congratulations, thanking MEPs in the plenary debate on the future of Europe after Brexit.
"There seems to be a kind of European civil war where interests are sometimes more important than uniting Europe."
"We see government around us," Macron said. "The answer is not authoritarian democracy, but the power of democracy."
"I do not want to belong to a generation of sleepwalkers who have forgotten their own past," he said, recalling that the European Union emerged after World War II. After his statement he was applauded by the audience.
"I want to belong to a generation that will defend European sovereignty because we fought to achieve it."
"European sovereignty is the system I believe in," he said.