The EU Must Change After the French Election

Though Emmanuel Macron looks poised to win the French presidential election on a passionately pro-European agenda, he still feels compelled to criticize European Union "dysfunction" and call for "in-depth" reform of the bloc to prevent Marine Le Pen from making a comeback and breaking it up. That's in line with what European voters throughout the bloc are thinking. The EU is already changing to accommodate them, but it's moving too slowly and it's bad at selling the change to the public. It needs to do a better job for Macron's expected victory not to go to waste.

The results of a March poll of 28,000 Europeans, done by the Kantar Public research group, show that pro-EU sentiment is back at the 2007 level after a dip following the global financial crisis. Some 57 percent of respondents said their countries' membership in the EU is "a good thing." Just 14 percent believe it's a bad thing. Positive sentiment is up 4 percentage points since last year.