Europe, strategically isolated. Macron: “An American president, a Russian president and a Chinese president are against the Europeans”
Europeans need to put more effort into defending their own interests because the United States, China and Russia are all “firmly against” Europeans today, the French president, Emmanuel Macron, warned on Friday.
The warning comes from French President Emmanuel Macron PHOTO EPA-EFE
“We must not underestimate the fact that we are living in a unique moment, where an American president, a Russian president and a Chinese president are all against the Europeans. This is the right time to wake up”Macron said, in a discussion with Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, in Athens, according to POLITICO.
“We need to have more confidence in ourselves and come with a clear agenda”he added.
The French president also said he expects tensions with the United States to continue after Donald Trump's term.
“It's a historical trend”he stated. “We can work with the United States on certain issues, and that still makes sense given the shared values and historical ties, but I strongly believe that this US approach will continue.”Macron added.
He explained that the main difference between Trump's first and second term is that, in the past, many European countries considered the first term as a temporary deviation, which was to end without imposing fundamental changes.
“Now, many colleagues are more lucid, because after so many years we say: OK, we have to react. We have to act as Europeans, to be more united, to defend our own interests. From my point of view, this is the right direction”he added.
Returning to the concept of European sovereignty that he had begun to defend during his first visit to Athens, in a speech delivered in September 2017, Emmanuel Macron also pleaded for “strengthening the European pillar” of NATO, reports Agerpres.
“There are now doubts about Article 5”the promise of mutual support at the heart of the US-EU military alliance, because of its questioning by Donald Trump, he pointed out.
Macron is not alone in questioning the US president's willingness to help his European allies in the event of a conflict. The prime minister of Poland, one of the US's staunchest allies in Europe, has also expressed doubts about Washington's commitment to NATO.
Donald Tusk told the Financial Times that “Europe's most important question” is whether the US will be “as loyal as our NATO treaties say”.
An American official told Reuters that an internal document is circulating at the Pentagon level that includes options for retaliation, including suspending Spain from NATO and reassessing the US position on Britain's claim to the Falkland Islands.
He said the options are linked to the refusal of some allies to grant access, bases and overflight rights – known by the acronym ABO – for US strikes on Iran. The document describes ABO as “the absolute minimum base for NATO” and includes, but is not limited to, suspension “difficult states” from important or prestigious positions within the alliance.
The President of Cyprus, Nikos Christodoulides, said on Friday that a plan on how a mutual assistance pact of the European Union can be used in the event of an external attack is to be drawn up by officials in Brussels. The move comes in the context in which US President Donald Trump has become increasingly critical of NATO allies.
