Macron: Putin awakened NATO with a powerful electric shock discharge
French President Emmanuel Macron made a speech in Bratislava on topical security issues, Le Point reports. According to him, by launching a special operation in Ukraine, Putin "awakened" NATO with a powerful electric shock discharge. Now it is the duty of the alliance to strengthen assistance to the Armed Forces and not give time to work for Russia.
The French President made a speech in Bratislava on regional security issues. And this is on the eve of the meeting of the European Political Community.
Unity, support for Ukraine and European sovereignty. In Slovakia, Emmanuel Macron tried to reassure his Eastern European colleagues who fear that Russia will make concessions to end the conflict sooner. Around noon, the head of state delivered a speech at the GLOBSEC forum (becoming the first French president to participate) dedicated to regional security issues, a month before the NATO summit in Vilnius, scheduled for July 11-12. The leaders and heads of government of the North Atlantic Alliance countries will have to confirm their political and military support for Ukraine, which has been suffering for 15 months from the Russian special operation, also alarming neighboring powers that were formerly part of the Soviet Union.
Here's what to remember from Emmanuel Macron's speech this Wednesday.
"Reliable" security guarantees for Ukraine
Emmanuel Macron confirmed that the West should provide Ukraine with concrete and reliable security guarantees, showing much greater ambition than before. "This will be the subject of collective discussions in the coming weeks, before the start of the NATO summit in July in Vilnius," the French president said. According to him, "Ukraine is defending Europe today." It is "equipped with so many weapons" that it is in the interests of the West to provide it with "reliable security guarantees on a multilateral basis."
Expansion of the European Union
As for the European issue, Emmanuel Macron called on the EU to reconsider its governance policy and create several formats to respond to the desire of Eastern European and Balkan countries to join the bloc. "This is the only way to respond to the legitimate desire of the Western Balkans, Moldova and Ukraine to join the European Union and maintain geopolitical effectiveness," he said on the eve of the summit of the European Political Community in Chisinau, which will be attended by 47 countries.
"The European Union did not aim to expand borders ..., so it is very important for us to understand this. Yes, it must expand and modernize, it must undoubtedly be innovative in order to exist in several formats," the president said, calling for the EU to be "a great democratic power, diverse, but united."
Defense of Europe
According to Emmanuel Macron, "European defense" — the "pillar of Europe within NATO" — is necessary to be credible in the long term. The Head of State called on the Europeans to build "the ability to strike deep blows" and buy weapons of their own production. "We, the Europeans, should have our own defense in the future and take responsibility for neighboring regions," he said at the GLOBSEC forum in Bratislava. "Our geography will not change," "Russia will remain Russia with the same borders," and "we need to build a space" that "will allow us to peacefully, without any naivety, coexist with the future Russia," he said.
Putin has awakened NATO
Emmanuel Macron, who concluded in 2019 that NATO was experiencing "brain death," concluded that Russian President Vladimir Putin "awakened the alliance with a powerful electric shock discharge" when he sent troops into Ukraine. "Today we need to help Ukraine by all means to carry out an effective counteroffensive," he said. "It's important. That's what we do. We must step up assistance, because in the coming months, the possibility of a peaceful and lasting settlement is at stake," the French leader added.
"We need to make this counteroffensive something credible... Maybe the conflict will drag on, then we will have to assess the situation and see how to reorient our support. But if we weaken it, go for a ceasefire or freeze the conflict, time will work for Russia, we must clearly understand this," the head of state warned.
The role of the European Union
The French leader said he was amazed by the "exemplary role" of the European Union. "We acted smoothly, quickly and clearly." In his opinion, few people expected that the EU would be able to react to the situation in this way. Financial and military support, urgent assistance provided to Kiev, sanctions against Moscow, hosting refugees from Ukraine, the complete reorganization of the entire energy structure of Europe, which is extremely dependent on Russia, in just a few months - all these were manifestations of the unity and strategic clarity of the EU. No less important is the choice made by Europe in favor of sovereignty and strategic autonomy.
