French President Emmanuel Macron still raises waves of debate in Europe through repeated calls for strengthening European defense capabilities in the light of major geostrategic changes in the world and the decline of the American role and doubts affecting the most powerful remaining defense alliance “NATO”.
After previously criticizing the role of the Western alliance, describing it as a clinical death, Macron call on Europeans to develop “more action capabilities” in the face of global turmoil, through full participation in upcoming negotiations on arms control and in a “strategic dialogue” on the role of the French nuclear deterrence. The French President, after defining the country’s nuclear deterrence strategy at a conference in Paris, continued his remarks about the status and prospect of EU’s security dangers at the MSC 2020 last weekend.
According to French news agencies, Macron said that Europe should not “limit itself to the role of a spectator” in the face of a new armament race” to which the European continent could become a part of.”
In a review of the post-Cold War’s vicissitudes, Macron points out that “the last decade has witnessed widespread skepticism in the strategic, political, economic, technical, military and energy balances, and re-emerges today with the severe danger of shakeing the peace gained after many tragedies on our continent.”
Examining the seriousness and the present density of global competition, Macron said that the world “faces comprehensive competition between the US and China, an accelerated fragmentation of the international legal system, all of which are challenges that Europeans must respond to with “greater strategic independence”.
The French President added that “France is convinced that Europe’s long-term security can only be stabilized through a strong alliance with the United States”, But he also stressed that “our security inevitably needs more responsibility by the EU itself. “
“Let’s be clear: if it is possible (to reach) broader negotiations and agreement, then we want to,” Macron warned. He stressed that “the Europeans must be participants and signatories of the new treaty because it is a matter of our affected land,” affected and threatened.
Macron’s hints about new armaments negotiations follow Washington’s recent withdrawal from the 1987 US-Russia treaty on medium-range nuclear weapons and Europe again at the heart of a possible arms race. This treaty prohibits missiles with a range of 500 to 5500 km. Washington also threatens not to renew the New Start treaty on strategic nuclear weapons concluded in 2010 and expiring in 2021.
