Mr Macron’s speech came ahead of June’s European Parliament elections where nationalists stand to make gains, notably in France where the National Rally is polling way ahead of the president’s Renew group (31 per cent to 17.5 per cent in one survey).

“European ideas have, in a way, won the day as all the nationalists across Europe are not saying that they are going to leave the euro or Europe”, he claimed.

However, he said Europe “could die through a sort of trick of history” if it succumbed to nationalist discourse, adding: “I won’t stop everything that Europe has done, but I’ll make it simpler, I’ll do it by not respecting the rules, I’ll do it by sapping its foundations.”

In a further apparent broadside against Brexiters, the French president warned that the only way to stand up to nationalists was “through audacity”, in the same breath saying that later this year “the British will choose their future, the Americans will choose theirs”.

Also in his speech, Mr Macron said the use of social networks by children under 15 should be subject to parental controls in the European Union.

“Before 15 years of age, there should be parental control on access to this digital space,” he said.

“If the content isn’t checked, this access produces all kinds of risks and mental distortions, which can justify all kinds of hatred.”

Mr Macron said he disagreed with the “Anglo-Saxon” approach of “delegating” checks to “private players” who have been found wanting and that the EU must “take back control” of the issue.

France has seen repeated violent incidents in recent years involving minors’ access to the internet, including the 2020 beheading of a teacher, Samuel Paty, who showed cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed in an ethics class about free speech.

The attacker who killed Paty, an 18-year-old radicalised Islamist, found out about the class from social media posts.

Social media apps such as TikTok were also believed to play a role in riots that spread across many cities in France after police shot dead a teenager, Nahel Merzouk, during a traffic stop in a Paris suburb in 2023.