Macron says to discuss with European partners extending French nuclear deterrence

FRANCE 24 English

Visit our website: http://www.france24.com  Like us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/FRANCE24.English  Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/France24_en

Transcript

00:00About an hour ago, Emmanuel Macron made a roughly 14 minute speech from the Elysee Palace in Paris,

00:07which signalled a change in attitude towards defence, not just in France, but Macron calling

00:14for the same across Europe. He wants Europe to unite to get behind Ukraine in its existential

00:20fight against Russia's invasion. Emmanuel Macron unveiled a plan to increase French defence spending

00:28by 20 billion euros over the next five years. This, he says, will be a private-public partnership to,

00:35he says, avoid any tax increases on French citizens in order to fund that. He says it's

00:41essential that Europe unites to secure future peace, future security. He said Russia is now

00:49the enemy and cannot be trusted. He cited Vladimir Putin specifically on this issue.

00:54He cited the fact that Russia has twice broken treaties, namely the Minsk treaties over the

01:03issues in Ukraine, 2014, 2015, and he says that basically it is impossible to take Vladimir Putin

01:10at his word. He says Russia will be boosting its defences, its army, its weaponry as it goes along.

01:17He said Russia has made this a world conflict by bringing in Iran and North Korea and to an extent

01:25China in terms of the use of arms on the ground. And he said that Europe has the duty now to work

01:32together to create more security and to lend its support to Ukraine. Let's take a listen to the

01:38French president. As I speak to you and for the foreseeable, Russia has become a threat to France

01:47and Europe. I deeply regret this and I'm convinced that in the long term, peace will return to our

01:53continent with Russia once again at peace. But this is the situation I'm describing to you and

01:59we have to live with it. Faced with this dangerous world, it would be foolish to remain a spectator.

02:06Without further delay, we must make decisions for Ukraine, for the security of the French,

02:11for the security of Europeans.

02:16So security, the big issue that Emmanuel Macron pains to outline there, basically the increase

02:21of spending, 20 billion euros extra from now until 2030, is his way, he says, of re-industrialising

02:29certain parts of France. So that is something from the social aspect to look at in terms of

02:35increasing jobs, which is almost a welcome issue in many parts of the country. But on a broader

02:42scale and a pan-European scale, it's a question of creating a platform from which the continent can

02:48defend itself and, at this point in time, lend its support to Vladimir Zelensky and Ukraine's

02:54fight against Vladimir Putin and Russia. James Andre has been observing matters for us. He joins

02:59us now live from the Élysée Palace. James, President Macron here, in many ways,

03:06opening the door to a different kind of future in terms of defence for France and Europe.

03:14Yes, absolutely. Emmanuel Macron, who really wanted to offer something very didactic today

03:18and to try and convince the French people that indeed they needed to shift gears, that basically

03:23the recipes of the past could not apply to what is happening now across Europe. Emmanuel Macron,

03:30that we've been seeing over the past few days, in a flurry of diplomatic activity. We saw him

03:35indeed last Sunday. He was in London on the 24th of February. He was in Washington, basically

03:43showing support for Vladimir Zelensky. And this is the message he really clearly hammered to the

03:48French public. We must back Vladimir Zelensky. He said we need to back Ukraine in order to achieve

03:56sustainable, solid peace to protect Ukraine, but also to protect Europe. And also explaining to

04:02the French public that, yes, there will be more military spending, that obviously he does not want

04:08to hike taxes. But what he wants to do, he says, is to redistribute the spending of the nation,

04:15which he says means there will be sacrifices, there will be tough choices to make, but also

04:20call upon the French public to mobilize, to get ready, and indeed to get ready to defend France

04:25and its values in the face of what has become, as he put it, a renewed threat coming from the East.

04:34Emmanuel Macron saying that indeed tomorrow at this European summit, it will really be the

04:39kickstarting of a European defense, that rules would be changed inside the Union in order to

04:44allow countries to have deficit if that money is spent on defense, but also creating financial

04:52mechanisms, reindustrializing France, basically recreating a whole economy of the defense that

04:59needs to be sovereign and that needs to be integrated here in France. Indeed, Macron says

05:04also he will open debate about extending the French nuclear umbrella to EU partner nations.

05:09James, bear with us a second, because as you've been observing, at the Elysee, Hungarian Prime

05:13Minister Viktor Orban has arrived for a special pre-summit supper with the French President. Now,

05:21this very high honor indeed being paid to Viktor Orban. His visit comes as US President Trump has

05:26ordered the suspension of US military aid deliveries to Kiev and a halt in intelligence

05:31sharing, which is a real blow to Ukraine's troops in trying to fend off that Russian invasion.

05:37The feeling in many European capitals is that Trump's America is pivoting away from its allies

05:42toward Moscow. Orban, of course, one of Trump's and Moscow's closest allies in the European Union,

05:47said a transatlantic rift of Russia's invasion of Ukraine became apparent over recent days.

05:52I think that's an understatement, isn't it? Macron has hatched a four-point plan, of course,

05:56to end the Ukraine war, but the main beneficiary from US actions over the past week is clearly

06:01Russia and Vladimir Putin. Let's go back to James Andre, who is observing matters for us at the

06:06Elysee. James, Viktor Orban then and Emmanuel Macron. I imagine that this will be a supper

06:12that involves a lot of talking as well.

06:16Yes, absolutely. Well, we saw Viktor Orban arrive just earlier on here and be greeted by Emmanuel

06:22Macron here with the full Republican Guard. This is a state dinner and this is obviously an honor

06:27that's being paid to Viktor Orban with a lot of things to discuss. As you know, Viktor Orban,

06:32this was just last week when the European Union decided to renew sanctions on Russia,

06:38threatened to use its veto power in order to avoid that happening. Viktor Orban has been

06:43quite clear about the fact that he is ready to use his position in the European Union to block

06:50the building or at least to slow down the creation of this European defense. And this, of course,

06:57is something that Emmanuel Macron needs to sit down and discuss with the Hungarian president.

07:01This is the point of this dinner, to get him on board, probably to try and convince him that he

07:05has more to win by staying allied to the European Union rather than pivoting towards Russia. Well,

07:12he's already an ally of Russia, but basically finding himself in this American Russia camp.

07:18So we'll see how he responds to this. This is also, of course, to prepare tomorrow's special

07:24summit, the European Union summit, where these first bricks of this renewed European defense

07:31need to be laid. And of course, the idea is to avoid Viktor Orban impeding that progress.

07:36James Andre at the Elysee Palace in Paris, the official residence of Emmanuel Macron,

07:40French president. James, thank you, as always, very much indeed.

Category

Transcript

Recommended