Emmanuel Macron's speech delivered from La Sorbonne on Thursday is already dividing Europe, particularly concerning a common loan for the Twenty-Seven to invest together.
Thursday April 25, at La Sorbonne, Emmanuel Macron gave a nearly two-hour speech on Europe. He set a goal: to achieve a “powerful Europe”. “Europe can die” even assured the Head of State at the start of his speech. To avoid this scenario, he wants to reaffirm European power and sovereignty via three axes: “power, prosperity and humanism”. A strategy that does not necessarily generate consensus within the European Union.
Emmanuel Macron wants to develop the security aspect in Europe, in particular by working for "nuclear deterrence" and by creating a "common framework" of security and defense and the organization of a real industrial defense policy with a European preference in the "purchase of military equipment". But also with "real coordination of member countries" on immigration.
In fact, since 2022, 75% of military equipment purchases have gone to non-European companies, the vast majority of which to American firms. An approach that the French president wishes to stem. In addition, Emmanuel Macron remains in favor of a new joint loan, at Vingt-Sept. Proposals that could get stuck in Brussels.
The joint loan is debated. If Rome, Warsaw, as well as certain countries in northern Europe view this proposal favorably, it is not really the same story for our German neighbors, as well as the Netherlands. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz could oppose the idea of a joint loan. The European preference "defended by Paris today seems to be a mirage" confides a Brussels source to Le Parisien. “We cannot ask an army whose functioning has long depended on American equipment to make the transition to French equipment in the blink of an eye,” we heard in the European Parliament, including Le Parisien. 'echo. The "strategy for the defense industry" presented by the Commission on March 5 does not seem, for the moment, to really have any weight.
During his speech from the prestigious Parisian University of La Sorbonne, the President of the Republic called, on the economic level, to review a growth model which is no longer suitable. “We must stop over-regulation, increase investment and better protect our interests.” Regarding the establishment of a possible common European defense, France should be able to count on Poland, in the face of German skepticism. The creation of “a European cybersecurity and cyberdefense capacity” is the “most within reach” proposal according to Wojciech Przybylski, of the Visegrad Insight think tank, in the columns of Le Parisien.
On the other hand, we cannot say that everyone shares the vision of the French president, particularly in Brussels. "Emmanuel Macron is taking up some old ideas: the European military academy, the European intervention initiative. Or else, he is defending projects already underway: the capacity for rapid deployment. All that for that" indicates Nicolas Gros-Verheyde in Le Parisian, founder of B2, a Brussels media outlet.
