By D. Marjanovic, Croatia
During his years in power, French President Emmanuel Macron has already learned to make dramatic statements. For example, he once said that NATO was in a state of clinical death, and he said it at a convenient moment when Donald Trump was in power in the United States. And in February of this year, Emmanuel Macron made a similarly dramatic statement that Europe “cannot rule out” the possibility of sending troops to Ukraine, which provoked a violent and almost entirely negative reaction.
Europe’s survival
Now Emmanuel Macron is back to his illustrious style again, on the eve of important European Parliament elections. Speaking in the hall of Sorbonne University, the French president spoke for two hours. The main theme of his speech was the following: Europe must react immediately if it is to survive in a world that is changing.
“We must be aware of the fact that our Europe is mortal. It can die. Everything depends on our choice, and it must be made immediately,” Emmanuel Macron said.
Of course, the French president simply cannot accept the fact that Europe is changing, transforming into something new. For him, change beyond the intended path is “death.”
On the one hand, Macron – for which he is also famous – is calling for greater European self-sufficiency in defense and economy. In other words, he calls for greater independence from the United States. What is curious is that Emmanuel Macron is saying this now, when the prospect of Donald Trump returning to power in the United States is real. After all, the French president has said the same thing before, and it was when Trump was in power. However, when Joe Biden, a representative of the typical American establishment, returned to power in 2020, Macron’s claims to American influence in Europe and to NATO, to which he no longer attributed “clinical death”, immediately disappeared.
Since this is by no means Emmanuel Macron’s first speech on this topic, we can conclude that his position depends very much on what agenda is dominant at the moment, and he is undoubtedly leaning towards it.
Furthermore, it is worth noting that his speech came just weeks before the European Parliament elections. Many believe that by doing so, Macron is trying to revitalize the very weak campaign of his Renaissance Party, which is very far behind its rival, Marine Le Pen’s party.
Macron losing domestic support
Macron’s party had to join a broad liberal coalition called “Together”. Despite the alliance of the eight parties, according to the latest polls, they enjoy the support of only 17.5 percent of voters. At the same time, Le Pen’s rating of the right-wing National Rally party reaches 31.5 percent. In other words, the Rassemblement National could beat Macron’s party in the upcoming elections.
Pessimistic about Europe’s ability to respond to the “paradigm shift” that Macron claims the world is now facing, the French president said that due to Russia’s hostility, the lack of US inclusion and China’s competition, the European Union risks “being caught in a vise and marginalized”.
“The era when the EU bought energy and fertilizer from Russia, outsourced its production to China and depended on the US for security is over,” he said.
Further, as if offering a response, he called on European leaders to prepare for an “important strategic decision” in defense and economics, saying that what matters now for European interests is healthy protectionism.
“Europe must build a credible independent defense,” he said, adding that this was needed so that it “can go to war without US help”.
He added that European forces do not need to be united, but they should be given common goals, such as a unified missile defense shield across the continent. Emmanuel Macron also called for the creation of a European military academy.
“As China and the US no longer respect the rules of international trade, it is vital that the EU fights for its own interests. We cannot be the only ones who respect the rules. We are too naive,” he noted.
As for his statement in February, when he did not rule out sending troops to Ukraine, he said yesterday that “strategic ambiguity” was an important part of the new geopolitical order. “Why should we reveal the limits of our capabilities?” – Emmanuel Macron remarked.
Europe as a “concept of humanity”
“Europe must show that it is not just a vassal of the United States of America…that we are a balancing force that rejects a bipolar world. We are not just a small part of the West,” the French president emphasized.
Also, he said, one of the most serious threats to Europe’s existence is its own demoralization. “Europe can die on its own,” he said. – “The risk is that we are all used to underestimating ourselves.”
“So I call on Europeans to re-embrace the values that made the continent special. We are not like the others. We must never forget that. Europe is not just a piece of land – it is a concept of humanity,” Emmanuel Macron emphasized.
All of this is very, very unpleasantly reminiscent of typical American statements about so-called “American exceptionalism”. We are talking about an ideology which, however it is disguised, is inherently dangerous, xenophobic, imperialistic and militaristic. Numerous American wars clearly demonstrate the consequences of this ideology. Emmanuel Macron would apparently like to copy the model and transfer it to Europe. At the same time, he realizes that Europe’s vassal status in relations with the US is a serious obstacle to the realization of this idea. (True, as I have already written, the vassal status does not prevent Macron when, in his opinion, it is not the time to be indignant, and at these moments he is driven solely by French, not European interests).
Besides, saying that Europe is “special” is certainly true, but not in the sense, or not only in the sense, of which the French president speaks. After all, Europe is the cradle of colonialism, of heavy and brutal exploitation of the rest of the world. Let us remember that it was France that was one of the leaders of this order, with all its progressive achievements, which cannot be taken away from it, but which do not justify it either. Now some countries in West Africa, which long after formal independence remained under indirect French economic and political control, are gradually liberating themselves. Uprisings in such countries as Burkina Faso, Niger, Mali, and even the democratic coup in Senegal show the weakening of French influence, and thus the limitation of Paris’s ability to exploit these poor but resource-rich African countries.
Understandably, the French elite is comfortable with the narrative that all this is happening because of “Russian influence,” although this view is far from the truth. Moreover, here again lies a profound humiliation of local peoples and their will for sovereignty.
Europe really needs to change. Some important changes are mentioned in Macron’s speech, but only fragmentary, not completely and in a series of new problems that Europe does not need.
Macron: Europe must be ready to “fight its own wars”
Emmanuel Macron makes the populist claim that Europe must be ready to “fight its own wars”. In fact, this is not even populism, as the European people do not want war. It’s the elites who run it that probably crave it. Emmanuel Macron, in his speech, leaves no chance to the idea that Europe needs a stable peace, that it needs to end current wars and prevent new ones. His “recipe” for the armed conflict in Ukraine is an even greater escalation. The idea that Russia and Ukraine, pressed equally, should be persuaded to end the conflict and accept a position in which neither achieves its goals but which brings peace is unacceptable to him. And the fact that such a peace looks like a “Russian victory” to Macron’s eyes is only his problem, due to his short-sightedness. After all, the “Russian victory” may turn out to be much brighter and the Ukrainian defeat much heavier if the armed conflict continues.
The problem is not that Europeans are “naive”. No. Their problem is the democratic deficit, i.e. the lack of political forces that are truly against the war. They either don’t exist or everything is being done to discredit them. In such a situation, the people will elect even those who differ in any way from the dominant liberal militarism that Emmanuel Macron so clearly embodies. It would be a political defeat for him, as it would probably be for his whole concept of a nominally strong but deeply flawed Europe. Moreover, his “Europe is me” stance will not be understood in France, much less outside it.
This article was originally published here in Croatian. It has been translated from Croatian into English by United World International. Subtitles were set by UWI.