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.
Macron repeated his call for EU-wide mutualised loans to raise hundreds of billions of euros needed for industrial investment, suggesting that the time has come to launch a shared debt capacity to fund our future expense - eurobonds for the future.
The French leader acknowledged skepticism from some countries regarding his calls for reform, admitting that France has historically struggled with a balanced economic model in comparison to northern European nations. He highlighted the urgent need for the EU to secure €1.2 trillion annually for investments in key sectors such as security, clean energy, and artificial intelligence.
In a world where the U.S. is increasingly viewed as unpredictable, Macron called for greater European solidarity and protectionism, while maintaining that Europe should not impose rules on its own producers that it does not impose on non-European entities. Today Europe faces a massive challenge, in a world of disorder, he remarked, urging the EU to come together amid rising tensions and competition on the global stage.
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.
Macron repeated his call for EU-wide mutualised loans to raise hundreds of billions of euros needed for industrial investment, suggesting that the time has come to launch a shared debt capacity to fund our future expense - eurobonds for the future.
The French leader acknowledged skepticism from some countries regarding his calls for reform, admitting that France has historically struggled with a balanced economic model in comparison to northern European nations. He highlighted the urgent need for the EU to secure €1.2 trillion annually for investments in key sectors such as security, clean energy, and artificial intelligence.
In a world where the U.S. is increasingly viewed as unpredictable, Macron called for greater European solidarity and protectionism, while maintaining that Europe should not impose rules on its own producers that it does not impose on non-European entities. Today Europe faces a massive challenge, in a world of disorder, he remarked, urging the EU to come together amid rising tensions and competition on the global stage.
