‘Mortal’ Europe needs to scale up defence, says Macron in keynote speech

French President Emmanuel Macron on Thursday urged Europe to wake up to the fact that it was not sufficiently armed in the face of global threats such as Russian aggression that pose an existential challenge to the continent. In a major foreign policy speech, Macron called on Europe to adopt a "credible" defence strategy that is less dependent on the US.

Macron returned to some of the themes of a speech he gave in September 2017 months after taking office at the same location – the Sorbonne University in Paris – but in a context that seven years on has been turned upside down by Brexit, Covid-19 and Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

Europe must rise to the challenges of a changed world and scale up its defence, said Macron, warning that the EU was not sufficiently armed to take on global threats such as Russia's war in Ukraine.

"Our Europe today is mortal and it can die," said Macron. "It can die and this depends only on our choices," he noted. "We need to build this strategic concept of a credible European defence for ourselves."

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