PARIS: President of France Emmanuel Macron on Tuesday (10th Feb, 2026) has urged Europe to act like a world power.
Ahead of EU Summit later this week in Brussels, Macron stated: “Are we ready to become a power? This is the question in the field of economy and finance, in defence and security, and in our democratic systems…In another era we might have said it is the moment to ‘assume our majority”.
Calling on the EU to “protect” these and other industries, he said: “The Chinese do it, the Americans too. Europe today is the most open market in the world.
“In the face of that, I am not saying we should be protectionist. It’s more a question of being coherent – in other words not imposing on our own producers rules which we do not impose on non-Europeans.”
“Today Europe faces a massive challenge, in a world of disorder,” he said.
“Climate change is accelerating. The US – which we thought would guarantee our security for ever – is no longer sure. Russia was to give us cheap energy for ever, but that stopped three years ago. China… has become a rival that gets fiercer and fiercer.
“Today, we Europeans are on our own. But we have each other. We are 450 million people. It’s huge. For me [becoming a power] is the fulfilment of the European adventure.
“We came together to stop war, we came together to build a market. But we always forbade ourselves to think of power.”
