In what will be seen as a kick in the teeth to Jean-Claude Juncker, the European Commission president, Emmanuel Macron insisted that the EU should set goals for the next ten years and enforce treaty changes, or risk other member states following Brexit. The French president urged ‘new ambition’, or the Brussels bloc would face the ‘dismantling of Europe’. His comments followed Mr Juncker’s state of the union speech, which included his master plan for greater integration without treaty change. Speaking in New York, Mr Macron warned of difficult months and years ahead for the bloc if it could not shake off its image of overbearing bureaucracy; he said that other countries which are not comfortable with this will leave. Juncker had called for EU integration in the face of rising populism and elections in Italy, Sweden, Hungary, and the Czech Republic, where Eurosceptic parties are gaining momentum.