Macron is a sovereignist and calls Europe to arms
Emmanuel Macron has returned to talking about weapons and the need for Europe to become autonomous from the United States. He did so in his speech on Europe at the Sorbonne University in Paris taking on the role of the European “sovereignist”.
“There is no sovereignty without borders”
“There is no sovereignty without borders” and the idea of European sovereignty has “imposed itself”, said the French president, highlighting that “Europe has rarely moved forward so much” despite the crises.
“We are surrounded and not sufficiently armed”
“Europe is surrounded and insufficiently armed” in the face of challenges posed by “unscrupulous regional powers” such as China and Russia. “The rules of the game have changed and the era in which Europe delegated its protection to the United States is over. In the next decade there is an immense risk of being weakened because we are living in an unprecedented moment of acceleration of transformations” Macron added, “We must be aware that our Europe can die and this depends solely on our choices, which must be made now because our ability to guarantee our security is at stake today and because the great transitions and challenges posed by artificial intelligence, the digital transition and environment are in play now. The attack against liberal democracies and our values and against what is the very substratum of European civilization is being waged now.”
“We must regain control of strategic choices”
According to Macron Europe must regain control of its strategic choices. “A powerful Europe knows how to protect its borders and for this reason we must emerge from a sort of strategic minority and have a credible defense of our continent. We were implicitly conceived by agreeing to delegate our security to others who did not want to see us rearmed too quickly We have delegated our energy to Russia, security to the United States and other aspects to China: we must take control of these aspects back into our own hands.”
“Atomic weapon essential for defense”
France and the French army are ready to put themselves at the forefront of European defense thanks also to the atomic weapon, “an essential element of European defense to build security guarantees” of the continent. “France has nuclear weapons and therefore the possibility of deterrence” he said, “nuclear weapons are an essential element of European defense to build the security guarantees that our partners in Europe expect”.
“Produce more weapons, faster”
Europe must rearm and it must do so with European military industries “producing more and faster”. We have to “favor the purchases of European weapons and standardize our military equipment”, he added.
“We can no longer be vassals of the USA”
The Europa “it must no longer be a vassal of the USA” in the international scenario, but must build partnerships with third countries. The French president, Emmanuel Macron, said this in his speech on Europe at the Sorbonne. “Europe is not just a piece of the West” he said, “but it is a world that thinks about its universality and wants to build balanced partnerships and to do that it is essential to add this to our ecology efforts and the other progress we have made