2018 was a critical year for French President Macron to implement his commitments to promoting European integration. In his first speech after the New Year，Emmanuel Macron emphasized the importance of promoting European integration. Later，under his suggestion，the EU countries have engaged in a large-scale “democratic consultation”，which has proved to be a big campaign in favor of the EU. While the US President Trump went to Europe to participate in the event to commemorate the end of the First World War，president Macron exchanged view with him on the development of NATO and the construction of a European defense community. Obviously，they were not on the same tune，and even quarreled. Then，France and Germany have tried to lead the construction of a burgeoning European defense community.

However，the Yellow Vest movement that broke out in France and the quarrel between France and Italy showed different views of the EU member countries on promoting European integration，reflecting a sort of game between “elite politics” and “civilian politics” within Europe. 2019 is a European Parliament’s election year. The public opinion polls show that populist politicians are on the rise in a lot of European countries，making this election a weathervane for the future European integration development.

European integration is a mechanism of “sharing benefits in prosperity”，but barely a mechanism of “sharing responsibilities in difficulties”. When the European economic development encounters huge bottlenecks，it will be more difficult to promote European integration. Emmanuel Macron started with a grand plan of European integration，but he might end up by only being content with small steps in pushing forward the process.