Emmanuel Macron defends European strategic autonomy in an interview with the newspaper the echoes, Posted this Sunday. A sovereignty for which “the milestones have been set” that goes through industrial policies, new defensive instruments and less dependence on third powers, including the United States.
The question of European sovereignty
For the president, Europe must fight for its strategic autonomy. “Today the ideological battle is won” and the first results are beginning to be seen, but you have to hold the helm because it is a long fight.
An autonomy that goes through a reinforced common industrial policy, the texts of which token law (on semiconductors), the Law of zero net industry (plan to accelerate the energy transition within the bloc) and the Critical Raw Materials Act (to ensure the raw material) are stones in the building, according to the president.
The European defense industry is also a key element of Europe’s independence. He also points out that it must produce more quickly in a context of war in Ukraine that has been going on for more than a year and whose end does not seem to be approaching.
Be less dependent on the United States
Asked about the proactive industrial policy of the United States, in particular through its Inflation Reduction Law (IRA), the Head of State affirms that “we will have our European IRA”. In response, he cites the three industrial texts he named above. According to him, there are other stumbling blocks and some important battles to be fought to break with the world’s leading power like the others, especially on the defense side.
The autonomy of Europe will also, and necessarily, go through nuclear and renewable energy while insisting that Europe should not depend on “the extraterritoriality of the dollar.” “The paradox would be that when we are putting the elements of true European strategic autonomy into operation, we are beginning to follow US policy, through a kind of panic reflex”, the Head of State also concluded.
Source: BFM TV
