L’Europa deve rispondere a Trump “Electroshock”, afferma Macron

Emmanuel Macron has described Donald Trump’s return as an “electroshock” that should force Europe to secure its own future as well as Ukraine’s.

In an interview at the Élysée Palace shortly after Trump agreed with Vladimir Putin of Russia to hold imminent peace talks, the French president championed the need for Europe to “muscle up” on defence and the economy.

He insisted that only Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy could negotiate on behalf of his country, warning that allowing “peace that is a capitulation” would be “bad news for everyone”, including the US.

“The only question at this stage is whether President Putin is genuinely, sustainably, and credibly willing to agree to a ceasefire on this basis. After that, it’s up to the Ukrainians to negotiate with Russia,” Macron said, adding: “We all need to stay collectively vigilant.”

The French leader has long argued that Europe should take on more responsibility for its own security, which would only be possible by increasing economic independence and reducing its reliance on the US and China.

He described Trump’s return to the White House as a jolt to push the EU to invest in its own defence, economic and technological revival. It meant abandoning a fiscal and monetary framework, first agreed by the EU in 1992, which he described as “obsolete”.

“This is Europe’s moment to accelerate and execute,” he said, while warning of the risk of failure for the EU. “It has no choice. It is running out of road.”

Whether Macron can rally other European countries to his programme is an open question, especially since he has been badly weakened at home and in Brussels by the political paralysis that followed last year’s snap election. France’s depleted public finances also limit its own ability to make necessary investments in defence and other priorities.

Nonetheless, the French president endorsed the Trump administration’s position that it was Europe’s responsibility to ensure Ukraine’s security, saying it stemmed from a generational and bipartisan shift in America’s foreign policy priorities away from Europe and towards Asia.

US unilateralism did not start with Trump’s return to power, Macron added, noting that he “did not receive a call” in advance from the Biden administration about its “Aukus” nuclear submarine deal with Australia and the UK or about its withdrawal from Afghanistan.

“What Trump is saying to Europe is that it is up to you to carry the burden. And I say, it is up to us to take it on,” Macron said.

While many European leaders reacted furiously to Trump’s talks with Putin on ending the war in Ukraine, Macron appeared more sanguine. Having spoken to Trump by phone earlier in the week, Macron said he was “not surprised” by the US president’s move.

He said Trump had created a “window of opportunity” for a negotiated solution, where “everyone has to play their role”.

The US role is to “restart this dialogue” and take the initiative because Trump brought an “element of strategic disruption”. He said it would be up to Zelenskyy “alone” to discuss “territorial and sovereignty issues”. And “it is up to the international community, with a specific role for the Europeans, to discuss security guarantees and, more broadly, the security framework for the entire region. That is where we have a role to play.”

if the german elections are a mess, there will be zero response…or even a total surrender for germany to the USA!

NATO is dead and gone we need a new security architecture in europe. We must come up with our own European Military Union excluding the US

bla bla bla, talk talk talk… nothing gets done.

Well go on start homie, take the lead, do something, all bark no bite, all this talk of Europe not depending on yankees will stay in just “talk”

I really hate how Trump, AdF et al of those dickwads make fucking shitheads like Macron look like competent leaders by comparison.

Man all these “nOThInG iS doNE” talk in the comments get on my nerves.

European defense budgets are increasing left and right – of course they won’t jump to nominal US levels overnight.

Europe also gave more money and military aid to Ukraine than the US.

And more and more integration on the EU-level in terms of military is actually happening.

—

Always screaming “we suck” at everything doesn’t help anyone, nor is it correct.

> “This model, that is saying you have the Chinese market as an outlet, you have the American umbrella for our security and you have cheap Russian gas to be able to produce, forget all three.”

Brutal by Macron but very much correct

“Europe must respond…”

How about Macron invites EU leaders to Paris to discuss how we go forward.

Just idle words for more meaningless headlines.

Limit what is shared with the USA. Tulsi Gabbard ffs. Russians everywhere. Can’t trust the USA at all.

Trump’s abject capitulation to Putin makes Neville Chamberlain’s appeasement in Munich look like an act of heroic defiance.

Unreliable US to the left, dangerous Russia and China to the right.

There never was a more important time for Europe to bind together. Deregulate, invest in infrastructure, invest in defence.

As a hungarian this world fells like suffocationg in a bathtub, then an asshole comes in and say that we are on the titanic.