'Europe is Mortal': French PM Macron Makes a Case for European Strategic Autonomy

Paris: French President Emmanuel Macron warned Thursday that Europe could die if it fails to build its own robust defense as Russia’s war in Ukraine rages on, or if it fails to undertake massive trade and economic reforms to compete with China and the US. Macron urged Europeans to become more ambitious in a fast-changing world to face the challenges of war, fierce trade competition, energy scarcity, climate change and increasing authoritarianism.

In a nearly two-hour speech at the Paris’s Sorbonne University, Macron said the Continent is divided and “too slow and lacks ambition” at a time when the 27-member European Union needs to become a superpower, defend its own borders and speak with one voice if it wants to survive and thrive.

“Our Europe today is mortal,” Macron said. “It can die and that depends solely on our choices,” he added. He called on people to make those choices now because, “it’s today that Europe is between war and peace.”

Russia's aggression in Ukraine, now in its third year, is an existential threat and Europe is not armed enough to defend itself when “confronted by a power like Russia that has no inhibitions, no limits,” Macron said.

‘Our ability to ensure our security is at stake," Macron said. “Russia mustn’t be allowed to win.”

France has been an firm supporter of Ukraine in its fight against Russian aggression, and Macron has often clashed with other Western leaders as he has insisted that Europe must stand by the country at any cost.

Last month, the French president alarmed European leaders by saying that sending Western troops into Ukraine to shore up its defenses shouldn’t be ruled out.

Referring to trade practices of China and the US, Macron said “the two world powers have decided not to respect the rules of global trade” by shoring up protections and subsides while Europe’s industry remains open and is stuck in overregulation.

“Let’s do the same, we are in competition,” Macron said.

Thursday's speech comes ahead of pivotal European Parliament elections.

Macron, a avid advocate of a united and assertive Europe, also rallied support for his centrist Renaissance party ahead of the June 6-9 vote as far-right parties lead the moderate coalitions in the polls. He called for safeguarding the democratic values as the “authoritarian model” that he said was become “more popular” across the Continent.

The French president lost his majority in France’s most influential house of parliament, the National Assembly, after the 2022 election to the far-left coalition and the far-right National Rally party.

The social situation in France remains tense as Paris prepares to host the Olympic Games this summer, amid protests from teachers, police officers, and farmers in recent weeks. The protests follow huge demonstrations last year against Macron’s ultimately successful proposal to rise the retirement age.