“It can die and it depends only on the choices we make,” Macron said in a speech at the Sorbonne University in Paris that was described as the president’s vision for the future of Europe.
He warned that Europe is “not immune to the threats we face” in a world where “the rules of the game have changed”.
The French leader called on the continent to leave the “strategic minority” that has made it too dependent on Russia for energy and the US for security.
Macron described Russia’s behavior after its invasion of Ukraine as “unbridled” and noted that it was no longer clear where Moscow’s “borders” were. The President indicated that a necessary condition for European security is “that Russia does not win the war of aggression in Ukraine”.
“We have to create a strategic concept of a reliable European defense,” Macron asserted, adding that Europe cannot be a “vassal” of the United States.
The French president said he would ask European partners for proposals in the coming months and said Europe also needed its own capabilities in cyber defense and cyber security.
