President Emmanuel Macron called for stronger, more connected European defences on Thursday, saying the continent must not become a vassal of the United States, as he unveiled his vision for a more assertive European Union on the world arena.
With only three years left in his second and final term in office, and having lost his legislative majority in 2022, Macron, 46, wants to persuade his opponents that he still has the enthusiasm and creative ideas that propelled him to the president in 2017, and that he has not become a lame duck leader.
“There is a risk our Europe could die. We are not equipped to face the risks,” Macron said in his speech at the Sorbonne University in Paris, warning that military, economic, trade and other pressures could weaken and fragment the 27-nation EU.
Macron, in his words, said Russia must not be allowed to win in Ukraine. He further called for a boost in Europe’s cyber security capacity, closer defence ties with post-Brexit Britain, and the creation of a European academy to train high-ranking military personnel.
“There is no defence without a defence industry … we’ve had decades of under-investment,” he said, adding that Europeans should give preference to buying European military equipment.
“We must produce more, we must produce faster, and we must produce as Europeans,” he said.
Macron said Europe risked falling behind economically in a context where global free-trade rules were being challenged by major competitors, and he called for a reduction in red tape on small and medium-sized businesses.
Macron’s personal popularity has plummeted, and his centrist Renaissance party is lagging the far-right Rassemblement National (RN) in surveys ahead of the European Parliament elections on June 6 and 9.
Another difficulty for Macron is that his group, Renew, is currently the third-largest in the European Parliament but may fall to fourth place, according to polls, limiting his power even further.
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