“You have a role to play,” Macron said.
The French president referred several times to World War II and to former President Charles de Gaulle, who led the French Liberation Army’s resistance against German occupation. Macron said stepping up to Russia was necessary to defend the country’s interests.
While he declined to compare Russia to Nazi Germany in the 1930s, Macron said it was important to see the country “for what it is: it is a dangerous military power that has become imperialist.”
Macron was also asked about the formation of a common European army, but said diverging views on defense strategy within the bloc made a joint force unlikely. At the same time, however, he again appealed for European strategic autonomy and common loans to pay for defense spending.
It’s unclear how much more debt France can take on, in light of its budgetary crisis, which has prompted the current government to drastically cut spending.
Macron said increasing French spending on defense to 5 percent of gross domestic product — which Trump has asked of NATO members — was “one of the questions” he was examining.
Earlier in the day, Macron gathered French political party heads to discuss the war in Ukraine and said that spending 5 percent of GDP on defense could be on the table if the United States “decided to stop protecting Europe,” radio station France Inter reported.
