Wednesday, August 29, 2018

Macron To Shift Focus From NATO To EU Constitution




Macron: Europe can no longer rely on United States for its security



French President calls for EU defense project and EU cooperation with Russia and Turkey; Macron: It is up to us today to take our responsibilities and guarantee our own security, and thus have European sovereignty.

French President Emmanuel Macron called for new, urgent European security policy on Monday.
Speaking in Paris at the annual Ambassador’s Conference, Macron stated that “Europe can no longer rely on the United States for its security. It is up to us to guarantee European security… It is up to us today to take our responsibilities and guarantee our own security, and thus have European sovereignty…”
He urged for focus on the European Union’s constitution rather than NATO policy. His remarks follow the NATO summit in July where President Trump announced he would be “very unhappy if they [EU] didn’t up their commitments very substantially, because the United States has been paying a tremendous amount—probably 90% of the cost of NATO…”
Macron stated on Monday that Europe must “take new initiatives, build new alliances… France wants a Europe which protects, even as extremism has grown stronger and nationalism has awoken,” calling for reform in trade and security cooperation.
He also called for European cooperation with Turkey and Russia in order to improve diplomatic relations and cooperation. He not only accused the Trump Administration of “aggressive isolationism,” but asked “Do China and the United States think of Europe as a power with similar independence to their own? It is not the case.”
Turkey will hold a summit on Syria in September to be attended by officials from France, Germany and Russia. The United States was not invited to the talks. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced the summit would take place in Istanbul earlier this month.

No comments: