Macron gets it right

Scholz should stop being Europe's weakest link

What happened?

• Emanuel Macron dramatically shifted French policy on Ukraine. Though he began the war saying Putin shouldn’t be “humiliated,” Macron has now moved significantly. The beginning of 2024 is “time to wake up.”

• He orchestrated a vote in the National Assembly from which far-right Rassamblement National members ran away and abstained, while far-left NUPES deputies found themselves divided. He then gave an interview in which he described a Russian victory as existential for Europe and France.

The Arguments

• Welcome Macron’s change of position. He has overcome a century of French policy that saw Russia as an ally against Germany, and a bulwark against “the Anglo Saxons”.

• Germany — or rather Chancellor Sholz — is now the weakest link in the Western Alliance. He, and the “Russia-understanding” faction of the SPD are preventing Germany acting in the European interest.

• The majority of Germans and the majority in the German parliament supports it: the SPD need to stop blocking vital weapons, in particular Taurus missiles, that Ukraine needs to defend itself.

Now Watch…

• Macron’s Interview (clip – English subtitles) (full video - French).

• Speech by Friedrich Merz (clip - reasonable AI translated English).

…and Read

• This trenchant piece by European Policy Centre Analyst Amanda Paul: Europe Must Wipe the Smile of Putin’s Face. (Disclosure: I’m head of communications at the EPC)

• Sophia Besch on Europe’s New Defence Industrial Strategy: good timing, but far too small.

• My own analysis of the Portuguese Elections in Conservative Home. How far-right Chega won ex-communist voters by promising to triple the state pension.