Saying Europe is not "immortal", Scholz Macron urged the EU to improve competitiveness

In a joint opinion piece published in the Financial Times, German Chancellor Angela Scholz and French President Emmanuel Macron warned that the EU must make a huge effort to improve competitiveness or the European way of life will not survive.

Reuters reports that the joint opinion piece will be published on Tuesday (May 28). Scholz and Macron argue that the EU needs to reform, including further efforts to decarbonize the economy in a way that individual member states are responsible for, which could help boost France's nuclear power sector.

The German and French leaders also called on EU member states to complete the single financial market mechanism by developing a common insolvency, tax and investment framework.

"We cannot take for granted the foundations on which we have built our European way of life and the role we play in the world," Scholz and Macron said.

"Our Europe is not immortal," they said. "We must rise to the challenge."