French President Emmanuel Macron has said Europeans must step up and defend their own interests, saying the United States, China and Russia are currently all opposed to Europe, according to a media report.
“We should not underestimate that this is a unique moment where a US president, a Russian president and a Chinese president are dead against the Europeans,” Macron said during a discussion with Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis organised by the Kathimerini newspaper in Athens.
“So, this is the right moment for us to wake up,” he added.
“We have to be a little more self-confident and deliver an agenda,” he added.
The French president also said he expected tensions with the United States to outlast President Donald Trump, Politico reported.
“This is a historical trend,” he said. “We can engage with the US on some issues, and that still makes a lot of sense because of common values and historical bonds, but I really believe that this US approach will last.”
Macron said the main difference between Trump’s first and second terms was that many European countries had viewed the first term as an aberration that would end, without requiring fundamental changes.
“Now, a lot of colleagues are more lucid, because after so many years, we say, okay, we have to react. We have to act as Europeans, to be more united, to defend our own interests. And for me, this is the right direction.”
Macron flew to Athens after an informal European Council meeting in Cyprus, as Greece and France are set to sign the renewal of a bilateral security pact on Saturday.
hz/sa
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