Macron told Portuguese TV RTP in an interview he posted on X on Saturday that if Europe wanted to move towards “greater autonomy” in matters of defence and nuclear deterrence, then its leaders should start a discussion about it.
“I am available to open this discussion…if it allows to build a European force,” he said. “There has always been a European dimension to France’s vital interests within its nuclear doctrine.”
Defence Minister Sebastien Lecornu reiterated Macron’s stance that France’s vital interests include a “European dimension”, but also that it was under the exclusive control of the French head of state.
Europe cannot be vassal of US, Macron says amid Trump’s foreign policy shifts.
French President Emmanuel Macron called upon Europe to “rediscover taste for risk, ambition, and power” and reject dependence on the U.S., the French news channel BFM TV reported on Feb. 28.