‘Mortal’ Europe needs to scale up defence, says Macron in keynote speech

Macron returned to some of the themes of a speech he gave in September 2017 months after taking office at the same location – the Sorbonne University in Paris – but in a context that seven years on has been turned upside down by Brexit, Covid-19 and Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

Europe must rise to the challenges of a changed world and scale up its defence, said Macron, warning that the EU was not sufficiently armed to take on global threats such as Russia's war in Ukraine.

"Our Europe today is mortal and it can die," said Macron. "It can die and this depends only on our choices," he noted. "We need to build this strategic concept of a credible European defence for ourselves." 

He described Russia's behaviour after its invasion of Ukraine as "uninhibited" and said it was no longer clear where Moscow's "limits" lie.

Macron also sounded the alarm on what he described as disrespect of global trade rules by both Russia and China, calling on the European Union to revise its trade policy.

"Our Europe, today, is mortal and it can die," he said.

"It can die and this depends only on our choices," said Macron, warning that Europe was "not armed against the risks we face" in a world where the "rules of the game have changed".

Europe must never be ‘vassal’ of US

Macron championed the concept of European sovereignty, calling for autonomy in defence and the economy.

"How can we build our sovereignty, our autonomy, if we don't assume the responsibility of developing our own European defence industry?" he asked.

Europe "must show that it is never a vassal of the United States and that it also knows how to talk to all the other regions of the world", he said.

He said he would ask European partners for proposals in the next months and added that Europe also needed its own capacity in cyber defence and cybersecurity.

Macron said preference should be given to European suppliers in the purchase of military equipment and backed the idea of a European loan to finance this effort.

He also called for a "revision" of EU trade policy to defend European interests, accusing both China and the US of no longer respecting the rules of global commerce.

"It cannot work if we are the only ones in the world to respect the rules of trade – as they were written up 15 years ago – if the Chinese and the Americans no longer respect them by subsidising critical sectors."

Far right leads in French polls ahead of European elections

Macron's speech comes as his party is facing embarrassment in June European Parliament elections, ranking well behind the far right in opinion polls and even risking finishing third behind the Socialists, and as the EU is drawing up its new strategic agenda for 2024-2029.

Surveys for the June 9 European elections in France point to support only in the high teens for Macron's centrist coalition, well below the far-right National Rally (RN) at around 30 percent, while the Socialists are snapping at the presidential camp's heels for second place.

"It would be a real earthquake if the president's majority came third" in the European elections, said political scientist Bruno Cautrès, a researcher at France's national centre for scientific research (CNRS).

The head of the governing party's list for the elections, the little-known Valérie Hayer, is failing to make an impact, especially in the face of high-profile figures leading the rival lists in the shape of Jordan Bardella, 28, for the far right and Raphael Glucksmann for the left.

The popularity of Prime Minister Gabriel Attal, 35, whose appointment in January was seen as a move to counter Bardella, is meanwhile on the wane.

The domestic stakes are high: the RN has said it will call for parliament to be dissolved if Macron's Renaissance party and its allies suffer a crushing defeat.

Meanwhile, the EU vote also comes with RN figurehead Marine Le Pen sensing her best-ever chance to win the Élysée in the 2027 French presidential elections when Macron cannot stand again.

(FRANCE 24 with AFP and Reuters)