During his last week’s speech at the Sorbonne, Emmanuel Macron evoked several subjects, repeating his main desire to create an EU army by 2025.
His Armed Forces Minister justified the plan mentioned by Macron on Thursday as well, using the fact that there were "many crises in which NATO does not have the competence and in which France often carries out operations on its own."
"It's a key issue (...) on which I hope we can reach a conclusion as early as next year, by being very reactive and very quick", confirmed the French Minister for the Armed Forces, Sébastien Lecornu, on Friday 26 April, during an interview on France 2, regarding the creation of a European "rapid reaction force", mentioned the day before by Emmanuel Macron in his speech on Europe at the Sorbonne.
As for Macron’s speech, there were several contradictions as well as moments that were not appreciated by his European partners as well as the opposition inside of France.
"Our Europe today is mortal. It could die, and that depends solely on our choices", said Mr Macron. "Looking ahead to the next decade, (...) there is a huge risk that we will be weakened", he added, adding that the values of "liberal democracy" are "increasingly criticized and contested".
While Macron continuously mentioned that Russia and Iran are the main opponents of Europe and are a threat to the continent's development and prosperity, he did mention his desire to include Russia in a system of neighborly relations after the war in Ukraine, which is in strong correlation with the French President’s desire to keep relationship with Russia, even as he previously mentioned the possibility of sending troops to Ukraine to fight Russian forces.
“We now have uninhibited regional forces that are also demonstrating their capabilities, such as Russia and Iran, to name just two. Europe is surrounded, pressured by many of these powers on its borders and sometimes within it.”
As this wasn’t enough Emmanuel Macron went one step further than proposing to create a joint EU army by 2025, this time he also offered to place the French nuclear arsenal in the selected European countries. There can be two reasons he would propose such an escalatory idea. First, the desire to replace the United States as Europe’s main guarantor of safety and to create a pan-European dependence on France, at least in terms of defense. The second reason is purely to ask for as much as possible in order to get something. In this case an EU army.
“Indeed, nuclear deterrence is at the heart of France’s defense strategy. It is therefore an essential element in the defense of the European continent. It is thanks to this credible defense that we will be able to build the security guarantees expected by all our partners, throughout Europe, and which will also contribute to building a common security framework, guaranteeing security for all. It is this security framework that will also enable us, the day after [the war in Ukraine], to build neighborly relations with Russia.”
Despite his ambitious plans, Emmanuel Macron was criticized by the French opposition from the left and from the right. While it is known that in the EU several countries such as Germany, Hungary, Spain, and Poland oppose the creation of the EU army, the criticism within France was fierce from both aisles of the political establishment.
On the far right, Thierry Mariani (RN), said on X: "Macron [was] becoming a national danger." "After nuclear weapons, France's permanent seat on the UN Security Council will follow, which will also be sold off to the European Union," he raged.
For François-Xavier Bellamy, "The nuclear deterrent is based on the mastery of a technology that is very expensive for the French, that is a historic investment for our country, and to deprive the French of it is a travesty for the President of the Republic", continued Mr. Bellamy.”
And on the left, La France Insoumise (LFI) said in a statement issued by its parliamentary group on Sunday that Mr. Macron "has dealt a new blow to the credibility of France's nuclear deterrent". This "cannot be shared" and, "under the guise of defending European soil, Macron wants to liquidate France's strategic autonomy".
Seemingly, Emmanuel Macron had to review his new strategy, unless its main goal was to force other European States to compromise on the creation of the EU army. Given that the President of France has put everything at stake for this idea, it is fair to say that the creation of the European forces is the legacy he seeks.
Adil Malikov