French President Emmanuel Macron has urged Europe to assert itself on the world stage, saying it is time to start acting like a power. In the face of growing threats from China, Russia, and now the US, he told a group of European newspapers that the continent faced a wake-up call.
Are we ready to become a power? This is the question in the field of economy and finance, in defence and security, and in our democratic systems, he stated. Ahead of an EU summit in Brussels later this week, he insisted that it is crucial for Europe to coordinate on these fronts.
Macron repeated his call for EU-wide mutualised loans in order to raise hundreds of billions of euros needed for industrial investment. He said, The time has come to launch a shared debt capacity to fund our future expense - eurobonds for the future. We need big European programmes to finance the best projects.
Despite previous scepticism from Germany and other nations regarding collective financial support, Macron maintained that there is an increasing demand in global financial markets for mutualised European debt. He warned that European unity is essential, stating, The world markets are increasingly afraid of the American greenback [dollar]. They want alternatives…for investors everywhere a democratic state of law is a huge attraction.
Macron emphasized that Europe must protect its vital sectors, such as security and clean energy, to remain competitive. He stated, Today Europe faces a massive challenge, in a world of disorder... We came together to stop war, we came together to build a market. But we always forbade ourselves to think of power.
He concluded with a call for awareness, stating, Today, we Europeans are on our own. But we have each other. We are 450 million people. It's huge. For me [becoming a power] is the fulfilment of the European adventure.
