Macron’s speech at the Sorbonne in Paris in 2017 was legendary. In it he outlined his vision of an autonomous EU with a common defense arm. Almost seven years later, France’s president is still concerned with the European idea, but above all with his political survival.
Emmanuel Macron’s fight is somewhat reminiscent of that of the European Union. Both want to radiate sovereignty in a time of many crises, while right-wing populists strive to overthrow them. But the EU is much more than a companion in fate for the French president. Its potential strength is and remains his vision, his anchor point, a large part of his political identity. Macron made this clear in his second speech at the Sorbonne in Paris.
In September 2017 he spoke in the university’s magnificent lecture hall. With a certain tone, bold proposals and shining eyes, Macron presented himself as an enthusiastic European. Now he sums up, not without pride, that many of his ideas for a sovereign Europe have become reality in recent years. The EU acted in unprecedented solidarity during the pandemic, for example in the joint procurement of vaccines or the establishment of the Corona reconstruction fund, which is worth hundreds of billions of euros. The common defense policy called for by Macron in 2017 has also been at the top of the EU agenda since the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
At the same time, Macron warns urgently that all European dreams could quickly collapse if right-wing populists take over. Surveys in many member states predict an increase in power for the right in the European elections in June. Macron and his liberal “Renaissance” party are also fighting against the right-wing extremist “Rassemblement National” under Marie Le Pen. With a lead of twelve percentage points, they have the best chance of winning the European elections in France. “Europe can die. That depends solely on our decisions, but these decisions must be made now,” Macron warned again and again during his speech. But it’s not that far yet.
“Our weakness is our fragmentation”
It is important to react immediately to a geopolitical world situation in which major powers such as Russia and China have “changed the rules of the game”. He sees the only chance of asserting himself against those enemies of the democratic order in the further development of common defense. “In the coming months, I invite all partners to build a European defense initiative,” said Macron. Among other things, he addresses the European Commission’s goal of building an internal market for defense equipment. “Our weakness is our fragmentation,” he says, alluding to the different armament systems of the 27 member states.
He also insists on producing more weapons “Made in Europe” in order to reduce dependence on suppliers from the USA or South Korea. The past few months have shown how keen Macron is to strengthen domestic arms production. Only after much hesitation did France join the Czech Republic’s initiative to procure hundreds of thousands of artillery shells for Ukraine outside the EU. Previously, Paris insisted on buying the ammunition from European manufacturers. However, these could not keep up with production. For Macron, a clear sign of weakness: “How can we build our sovereignty, our autonomy, if we do not take responsibility for building our own European defense industry?”
Because the others, primarily China and Russia, are arming themselves, he warns. But Macron is not only calling for more independence from those states that he classifies as enemies of the democratic order. Europe should also break away from the United States in terms of both economic and security policy in order not to be its “vassal”. Macron criticizes that Europe’s defense still depends on the USA. The French army is the most efficient in the EU, also because of its nuclear weapons, and is therefore “particularly important to guarantee security in Europe,” he claims.
There is a crunch between Paris and Berlin
An obstacle on the way to a common EU defense policy is the fact that the member states do not want to give up their self-determination in this regard in order to protect their own sovereignty. There have also been repeated disagreements between France and Germany, for example when it comes to the European strategy for supporting Ukraine. Macron recently caused an uproar by saying that the deployment of Western ground troops in Ukraine was not out of the question. Such considerations do not meet with much enthusiasm from Chancellor Olaf Scholz.
Government spokesman Steffen Hebestreit recently cited planned joint projects such as the development of a combat aircraft and a battle tank as further examples of conflicts of interest. Macron’s call for the EU to take on joint debt in order to boost domestic arms production also falls on deaf ears in Berlin.
At the same time, Macron is facing accusations in the EU that he has not sufficiently supported the Eastern Europeans since the start of the Russian war of aggression. France’s financial aid to Ukraine is relatively small. According to the Kiel Institute for the World Economy, they amount to almost four billion euros, while Germany has so far spent 14.5 billion euros.
Macron wants “neighbourly relations with Russia”
In addition, Macron refused to cut ties with President Vladimir Putin long after the Russian invasion began. Apparently he still doesn’t want to completely give up hope of further contact with Moscow. This becomes clear when he emphasizes that a European security framework, supported by French nuclear weapons, could make it possible to “build neighborly relations with Russia” in the future.
Hopefully Macron will not forget that the digital disinformation that he warned about at the end of his speech has many financiers in Russia. The catalysts for these false claims on the Internet are, last but not least, the right-wing populists who are pushing the French president ahead of them in surveys.
Given these developments, Macron is also apparently struggling not to fall into pessimism. Some of the enthusiasm that made his speech at the Sorbonne almost seven years ago legendary has evaporated. It is “difficult to be optimistic” in these times, says Macron. Only through clear thinking could Europeans be able to anticipate and respond to dangerous developments in the future. “In any case, we are fighting for the opportunity to choose our future,” Macron concluded his speech.