PARIS – President Emmanuel Macron of France said in an interview on Friday that Europe, as a credible partner for the United States, should also be an “autonomous partner” with its own military and technological capabilities, because “cooperation can not depend on do not be ‘.
In a dozen foreign correspondents, Mr. Macron said he had a lengthy conversation with President Joseph R. Biden Jr. last Sunday. had in which he explained his thinking on the future of NATO.
“It’s not that we want to undo the existing alliances or partnerships,” he said. But, he continued, ‘Cooperation is the choice to work together for shared values and goals. The day that collaboration becomes addictive, you become someone’s vassal and you disappear. ”
The unreliability of the government of former President Donald J. Trump, and his persistent criticism of NATO and the European Union, has accelerated a European strategic re-evaluation. Mr. Macron was the most outspoken voice of the European Union, calling for investment in more jointly developed European military equipment and lamenting the technological dependence of the bloc, whether from China or, as he put it, “even from an ally like the United States. “
About his conversation with mr. Biden, the French president said: “I told him we are for European strategic autonomy, because Europe must bear its share of the burden.” The exchange was ‘very pleasant and pleasant’, said Mr. Macron said and ended with an agreement to work together.
Other European countries, including Germany, were wary of using the word ‘autonomy’. The French president is facing an election next year and an attitude that claims that French and European sovereignty is likely to play well in the center-right of the political spectrum, an important potential constituency for him. It also reflects deep personal beliefs that Mr. Macron has been speaking out since 2017.
When Macron looks relaxed in his trademark black turtleneck shirt and blue suit, his watch and a small watch on the table in front of him, he talks for more than an hour and a half with a comprehensive clarity on various topics, including threats against democracy, the pandemic, Brexit and the relationship between France and its large, sometimes marginalized Muslim population.
In turn, philosophically and pragmatically, always intensely, the president alternated his arguments with broad reflections, such as: “You know, one can not master the course of history, but one can try to thread it. find.”
One such thread, Mr. Macron proposed, citing the January 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol, was the rise of violence that had become a direct threat to democracies.
Without ‘the ability to respect individual freedoms and create a framework for peaceful debate’, democratic societies have collapsed, he said. But some people, in France and in America, have come to the conclusion that ‘there is so much economic, social or other violence that physical violence in the street is justified. I believe this is a serious mistake that threatens democracy. ”
According to him, social media has brought about a kind of “anthropological mutation” characterized by ‘fascination with hate’. At the same time, democracies are undergoing a ‘leveling that destroys the principle of authority’, without which they will not be able to function effectively.
These developments have given rise to the urgent demand for regulation of large private companies on social media. “I am not in favor of the delegation to private companies, because of their prominence, the right to decide on my life and our life in a democracy,” Mr Macron said.
Regarding the pandemic, which led to the introduction of a curfew at 6pm in France, and stricter border restrictions announced on Friday, and to growing discontent among a population tired of restrictions, lockouts and deprivations, Mr. Macron said: ‘It is normal that there are effects of fatigue, of impatience, of moments of stress on the issue of vaccines. ”
But he defends Europe’s Covid-19 strategy, arguing that it is unrealistic to compare the open European continent with island nations such as New Zealand that have largely eliminated the virus, or with smaller countries such as Israel where vaccination rates surpass Europe. has.
“It all works only if we do it together,” Macron said of the European Union’s approach to vaccinations, adding that it was a “rational strategy” to give the European Commission a range of vaccines for the whole bloc. let buy. He said the United States had “completely failed” the first phase of the pandemic, but that it was doing well now because it had invested heavily in vaccines to accelerate their development.
“How do you do good science as fast as possible? The Americans showed it very well, ‘said Mr. Macron said. “Much better than us.”
Macron attributed American successes to “an organization model that is less averse to risk” because it has fueled the theme of enterprise initiative – one of the foundations of its attempt to reform France.
Of the Europeans, he suggested: ‘Sometimes we were a little too careful, sometimes we were very picky’, although he emphasized that it was important to find the right balance and not ‘abandon precaution’.
Balance was an important theme of Mr. Macron’s presidency, as he sought to combine the liberation of the economy with the preservation of the social model of France. This led to suggestions that he try to reconcile the incompatible in a constant style of government, on the other hand.
He faced the pandemic, and it was inevitable that protecting people would take precedence over free market reform. He promised never to waver in his “whatever it is” approach to Covid-19, leaving behind the question of guilt that had accumulated for some time after the virus was defeated.
According to him, Brexit was a ‘mistake’ based on ‘many lies’, a sovereign decision which he respected but which would complicate many problems.
“I believe in continental sovereignty, I believe in nation-states, and I do not believe in neo-nationalism,” Macron said. “I therefore prefer a shared ambition and to finding a common destination again, and I hope that Boris Johnson and those around him will share this path.”
On the tensions in France caused by Islamic terrorism, including three attacks in the second half of last year, and his own efforts to eradicate his roots and bring about better integration of the country’s Muslim citizens, Mr. Macron said:
‘I have never said that I want moderate Muslims. This is not my problem. I am not asking that a Catholic be moderate. I do not give much. When it comes to someone’s religion, it does not affect me. On the other hand, I demand of every citizen, regardless of their religion, to respect the rules of the Republic, because he or she is a citizen before he or she is a believer or an unbeliever. ‘
Aurelien Breeden in Paris reported.