Macron says reforms to cement ties with Netherlands, eurozone integration

French President Emmanuel Macron on Friday said his economic and social package of reforms will further cement ties with the Netherlands in a way to help muscle integration and boost growth in the single-currency bloc.

French President Emmanuel Macron listens to Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte during their statement after their meeting at the Elysee Palace in Paris, France, Friday, June 16, 2017. [Photo: AP/Francois Mori]

In a meeting with Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte, Macron said both sides discussed ways to outline a common working plan on bilateral and European issues ahead of the European Council scheduled for next week.

"It is clear that this program and these reforms, which each of us are carrying, bring us closer as well as our two countries, that face common challenges of competitiveness and economies which should be now more attractive in an open world," he said. "I think there is much to be done for this common agenda and it is our wish to be able, even if our cultures are different, even if our political balances are different, to do more together."

In a joint press meeting with Rutte, the French head of state said both sides decided to work more together and be able, "bilaterally, to try to move forward."

Paris and Amsterdam "together will take strong initiatives to have a much more responsible, much more efficient and humane policy in terms of migration, in order to coordinate the common asylum with third countries and countries of origin," Macron said.

"We will have this shared ambition for our two countries and for Europe," he stressed.

After the Brexit vote and Donald Trump's victory in the U.S. presidential election, Rutte victory in the parliamentary election and rising French political star Macron dashed hopes of populists, advocates of anti-EU platform, to reign key European countries.