«For too long Europe has not built strategic autonomy. This is the battle of our time.” Emmanuel Macron is once again in a “visionary” mode the one returning from China, where he concluded a three-day visit – partly accompanied by the president of the Commission Ursula von der Leyen – under the banner of trade agreements but also of diplomatic work to reopen a diplomatic route to the bottom of the conflict between Russia and Ukraine. “I think China shares our same observation, which is that today is the time of war,” says the Elysée head in ainterview to the French newspaper The echoes. “Ukrainians are resisting and we are helping them. This is not the time for negotiations, even if they are being prepared and the foundations need to be planted”, is the sense of the observation “shared” by France and China, at least according to Macron. But in an era of tension and growing geopolitical risks, Macron is also concerned by the broader scenario in which European countries risk being crushed. “The last straw for Europe would be that just when it manages to clarify its strategic position, it falls prey to world disorder and crises that are not ours”, warns the French president, who warns against the risk that European countries become “vassals” of other global powers. No, therefore to the «logic of opposing blocks».
Macron’s third way for the EU
There are obviously two “elephants in the room” of Europe: China, of course, but also the United States – with which many values and objectives may coincide, but long-term strategic interests not necessarily, Macron suggests in the conversation with French business newspaper. “We Europeans must wake up,” recalls the French president. “Our priority is not to adapt to the agenda of others in any region of the world.” On the contrary, the challenge is to open a “third way”. «If there is an acceleration of the explosion of the duopoly, we will have neither the time nor the means to finance our strategic autonomy and we will become vassals. If we have a few years to build it, we can instead be the third pole» of the world order.
Metaphor aside, Macron suggests that the Europeans should not follow the US or other Pacific players in their harsh approach to the Taiwan dossier, effectively risking bringing a new conflict closer. “The question we Europeans are facing is the following: do we have an interest in an acceleration on Taiwan?”. Clear answer: no, claims the head of the Elysée. «The worst thing would be to think that we have to slip behind and adapt to the American pace and a Chinese overreaction. Why should we go at the pace chosen by others?», asks Macron, according to whom the risk in this case would be that of a «self-realizing strategy» of a new conflict.
Strategic autonomy and military investments
For Macron, therefore, the “battle of Europe” must once again be that of strategic autonomy. Concept dear to the French president, who launched the idea of ”European sovereignty” in the industrial and technological fields, but also in the military, right from the beginning of his first mandate. “Since the Sorbonne speech, we have won that battle on an ideological level: we have instilled the idea of a European defence, of a united Europe that issues debt together, and we have equipped ourselves with defense and industrial policy instruments”, claims Macron. But the road is not clearly traced for everyone, and the head of the Elysium feels the need to make a new appeal. “We don’t want to depend on others for critical matters. The day in which we will no longer have a choice in energy, defense or artificial intelligence because we no longer have the necessary infrastructure, we will temporarily leave history,” Macron warns.
The maturation of the EU therefore passes through urgent and very concrete choices and investments, for the Elysée. He included military expenses, to support Ukraine, but not only. “We have created a European fund for missiles and ammunition with a budget of 2 billion euros,” recalls Macron, but it is not enough. ‘It is clear that we need a European industry that produces faster. We have saturated our stocks. If history accelerates, the European war economy needs to accelerate at the same time», urges Macron. Whose last thrust back from Beijing is still reserved for the US, but on a purely financial level: “We must not depend on the extraterritoriality of the dollar.” Words that sound like music to the ears of those in the four corners of the planet who contest the American superpower.
Photo: EPA/By Han Guan / POOL