A European Council will be held from Thursday March 20 to Friday March 21 in Brussels. Emmanuel Macron will go to this meeting which will primarily address war in Ukraine and defense and sovereignty issues for the European Union. In terms of European defense, the plan presented last week by the president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, detailed how to mobilize up to 800 billion euros in the coming years, in particular thanks to loans.
From a French point of view, Emmanuel Macron promised on Tuesday March 18 to strengthen the air force with new fighter planes. Its objective: to fill insufficient stocks in the face of the risk of high intensity conflict.
2 – Éric Lombard and Sébastien Lecornu present their lines of work to defense manufacturers
The Ministers of Economy and Armies invited investors and defense manufacturers this Thursday, March 20 in Bercy. Éric Lombard and Sébastien Lecornu will present their lines to finance the sector to them, while Europe rearmed in front of the war in Ukraine.
Last week, Éric Lombard expressed his wish to favor existing savings products rather than the creation of a dedicated booklet in order to finance the defense effort. On France 2, the tenant of Bercy explained: “I ask large banking, insurance, financial advisers to offer French products to finance the defense effort. »»
3 – Renaissance is embarking on the municipal election campaign
The leader of Renaissance, Gabriel Attal, will answer the questions of journalists tomorrow morning in order to give the top start of the presidential party campaign for the municipal elections of 2026. According to Politico, the party should reveal “The names of around twenty” campaign pilots “”. Their goal will be to “Build a local project” in each city and to see “What are the possible coalitions” with potential allies.
For the moment, some names have already been released, such as Thomas Cazenave in Bordeaux, Violette Spillebout in Lille or Thomas Rudigoz in Lyon. On the other hand, the names of the candidates in Paris and Marseille should not yet be known tomorrow, unlike those in the running in Besançon, Bourges, Clermont or Grenoble. Another objective of the presidential party will be to launch a recruitment campaign with personalities from civil society.
4 – election of Thomas Bach’s successor at the head of the IOC
The Olympic International Committee will run its 144th session in Costa Navarino in Greece. This Thursday, March 20 will be held the election of the successor to Thomas Bach, at the head of the IOC since 2013.
In the running: Sebastian Coe, double Olympic champion of the 1,500 m, owner of World Athletics; David Lappartient, president of the International Cycling Union and the French Olympic Committee; Jordanian prince Feisal Al Hussein; former Zimbabwean swimming champion Kirsty Coventry; British-Swedish Johan Eliash, boss of the International Ski Federation; Juan Antonio Samaranch Junior, son of the former boss of the IOC and Morinari Watanabe, president of the International Gymnastics Federation. In the columns of the Tangwall Campagin in early March, David Lappartient had expressed his will to “Continue to serve the Olympic movement in a very broad way”.
5 – The good news of the day
From Wednesday to Friday, in Besançon, the French female futsal team will try to qualify for the first World Cup in the discipline. Born only two years ago, this team is experiencing a meteoric ascent.
As of this Wednesday evening against Poland, then Thursday against Finland and Friday against Spain, the team will have to win one, or even two games, to validate their ticket for the Philippines, where the very first female futsal world cup will take place at the end of 2025.
