French leader Emmanuel Macron, has marked the start of his country’s presidency of the EU by calling for a “frank” dialogue with Russia, which he deemed necessary for building a new rules-based “European order.”
“Our continent’s security requires strategic rearmament of our Europe as a force of peace and balance, particularly in our dialogue with Russia,” Macron said in a speech to the European Parliament in Strasbourg on Wednesday.
He explained he has been making this point “for several years.”“Both for us and for Russia, for the sake of the security of our continent which is indivisible, we need this dialogue,” Macron said, adding that it should be “a frank and demanding dialogue in the face of destabilization, interference and manipulation.”
According to the French president, cooperation with Russia must be based on principles and rules “to which we agreed and which we acted not against, not without, but with Russia thirty years ago.”
This new system, Macron argued, should be free of threats, coercion, and spheres of influence, and would give states a free choice when it comes to the membership of organizations or security arrangements, while guaranteeing their territorial integrity.
He suggested that this “new order of security and stability” should first be discussed within the EU, then within the NATO framework, before being proposed “for negotiation with Russia.”
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