The tough talk from Macron is likely designed to appeal to French and European voters more than achieve his stated goals of a European army, Mark Slelboda, a security and international relations expert, told Sputnik’s Fault Lines on Monday.
“He is simply doing a bit of cynical electioneering. His people have determined that words like ‘sovereignty’ play very well among potential voters of this upcoming European parliamentary election season, and he’s playing to that. That’s all there is to this, nothing else.”
France has long advocated for a European-led military force, rather than depending heavily on US-led NATO.
“Our Europe today is mortal and it can die,” said Macron during a speech at the Sorbonne University in Paris last week. "We need to build this strategic concept of a credible European defense for ourselves."
The French president later added that Europe “must show that it is never a vassal of the United States and that it also knows how to talk to all the other regions of the world.”
In other interviews, Macron has also said he wants an “open-debate” on how France’s nuclear arms can be used to protect the EU. France is the only nation in the EU that holds its nuclear weapons, though some nations do have US weapons on their soil.
To his credit, Macron has been consistent about his desire for Europe to become more independent militarily from the United States, advocating for it fairly consistently throughout his term in office, but very little has been done in that direction and there is little reason to believe it will now.
“I look at actions more than words,” Sleboda explained. “And, sorry, Macron, we all know you’ve got ‘US vassal’ tattooed on your buttocks. You can’t deny it.”
Macron’s recent spate of comments came as the conservative National Rally party holds a large lead, polling around 30% while Macron’s Renaissance is languishing in the low teens and may even come in third as the leftist Socialist party is surging in the polls and nipping at the Renaissance’s heels.
The National Rally has already called to dissolve parliament after Macron’s government failed to get an immigration bill passed in December of last year. It is expected they will do so again if Macron and his allies suffer a major defeat in the elections.
The European Parliamentary elections are scheduled for June, but it may not be just French voters that Macron is attempting to appeal to.
“He is speaking to the European people as a European leader trying to get European parliamentarians elected who share his opinion rather than, say, the opinion of [Hungarian Prime Minister] Viktor Orban,” who has called for the end of liberal hegemony in Europe, Sleboda explained, adding that he doesn’t think the comments will matter much to voters in other EU countries.
Ultimately, the desire for a more independent Europe is based on fear of a second term for former US President Donald Trump who has had a frosty at best relationship with NATO. In February, Trump said during a rally that he “would not protect” NATO countries that have not met their defense spending targets.
“It is true that all the European [leaders] are... in fear of an upcoming potential Trump presidency part two,” Sleboda explained. “This is a sequel that they definitely do not want to see.”