Macron urges Europe to start acting like world power (www.bbc.com)
from MicroWave@lemmy.world to world@lemmy.world on 10 Feb 13:04
https://lemmy.world/post/42956363

French President Emmanuel Macron has urged Europe to assert itself on the world stage, saying it is time to start acting like a “power”.

In the face of growing threats from China, Russia and now the US, he told a group of European newspapers that the continent faced a “wake-up call”.

"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’,” he said ahead of an EU summit in Brussels later this week.

#world

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MrSulu@lemmy.ml on 10 Feb 13:11 next collapse

Indeed we should. So long as this doesn’t mean that we move towards being isolationists, imperialists or Nazi’s.

homes@piefed.world on 10 Feb 13:51 next collapse

You guys do have a bit of a habit with those things…

UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world on 10 Feb 14:13 collapse

The first thing a Global Power Europe does is invade and colonize North Africa.

homes@piefed.world on 10 Feb 14:15 next collapse

Again?

UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world on 10 Feb 14:19 collapse

<img alt="" src="https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EhdCvcMVoAAZjpt.jpg">

homes@piefed.world on 10 Feb 14:43 collapse

I need to rewatch that show

ZeroEightOneFive@reddthat.com on 10 Feb 18:00 collapse

What show is that?

ZeroEightOneFive@reddthat.com on 10 Feb 18:02 collapse

Found it- Arrested Development.

arrow74@lemmy.zip on 10 Feb 21:10 collapse

Rome 2, this time they have nukes

umbrella@lemmy.ml on 10 Feb 16:51 collapse

you are already imperialists.

just don’t mess with overt fascism again.

Lembot_0006@programming.dev on 10 Feb 13:31 next collapse

Does Europe have any power? If yes, then Ukraine is the perfect place to demonstrate it. Imagine how powerful 1 million artillery shells per month would look. A hundred tanks and planes per month would look powerful too. Thousand missiles per month might send the powerful message too.

Talking and urging isn’t powerful.

Ladislawgrowlo@lemy.lol on 10 Feb 13:55 next collapse

10000000 Nukes would be even more powerful.

Lembot_0006@programming.dev on 10 Feb 14:17 collapse

Nukes are more cute than useful.

arrrse@piefed.social on 10 Feb 14:38 collapse

The problem with eu is 27 different nations who have their own agendas and goals and mostly everyone wants to keep it that way. Unlike russia and china and soon usa, EU is a democracy and in a democracy talking and urging is necessary. Its a shame that it’s come to this but im hoping that eu becomes a federation or something like that to maybe make it a bit more efficient and keep up / repel the others

Lembot_0006@programming.dev on 10 Feb 14:55 next collapse

I’m not against talking. I just point out that it is a shame that most activities are limited to talking.

arrrse@piefed.social on 10 Feb 14:59 collapse

Well you are right and thats why also Macron is right

HobbitFoot@thelemmy.club on 10 Feb 17:33 next collapse

The EU is comprised of sovereign entities, but those entities have chosen to give up certain competencies to the Union for various benefits. The EU already handles trade diplomacy and monetary policy through democratic institutions; it isn’t that hard to imagine that could also take on competencies related to defense.

The EU also could share the competency of defense with the various nations. After all, there are other countries which have sub national entities that have their own militaries.

bufalo1973@piefed.social on 10 Feb 17:35 collapse

I think the better way is a federation but not for everything. Only for diplomacy, defense and little more. At least as a first step. That way there’s no possibility of having an uberpressident that can do the same Trump is doing.

WaxRhetorical@lemmy.world on 10 Feb 18:25 collapse

Essentially, united on foreign policy but not domestic (barring stuff like human rights)? Superficially it seems sensible enough.

comrade_twisty@feddit.org on 10 Feb 13:35 next collapse

Can we put him in VdL’s place once he is done in France? He would make a great President of Europe.

myrmidex@belgae.social on 10 Feb 13:38 collapse

How do you determine he’d make a great president? What great things has he achieved as president of France?

pedro@lemmy.dbzer0.com on 10 Feb 13:42 next collapse

He’s perceived well internationally but loathed at home

comrade_twisty@feddit.org on 10 Feb 13:46 next collapse

Can’t really please French people if they want a president that lowers the retirement age to 45 and doubles everyones vacation days each year.

Obvious /s in case that’s not apparent. Unironically, this is how french politics is often portrayed in Swiss media though.

greenbit@lemmy.zip on 10 Feb 14:58 collapse

Those are good goals tho

comrade_twisty@feddit.org on 10 Feb 15:19 collapse

Not disputing that. I’d love to live in such a place.

Lembot_0006@programming.dev on 10 Feb 13:49 collapse

Is he perceived well? In my region he is perceived as a bla-bla-bla man(including bla-bla-bla with Putin when nobody asked for it).

wonderingwanderer@sopuli.xyz on 10 Feb 17:20 collapse

He’s proven effective at overseeing a stalemate, so he’d be within his element at the EU.

He’s also a good diplomat.

bearboiblake@pawb.social on 10 Feb 13:46 next collapse

Translation: “We should increase spending on military equipment so that later we can become fascist and hand it all off to an authoritarian regime to use. We should do this instead of fixing any actual problems, because addressing the root cause of those problems would mean acknowledging that those problems are caused by the ruling class, who own and control ‘democracy’.”

gustofwind@lemmy.world on 10 Feb 13:59 next collapse

Ok prove it by stopping Russia from slaughtering your own fucking neighbor

UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world on 10 Feb 14:12 next collapse

The rest of Europe is circling Ukraine like a wake of vultures

_Nico198X_@europe.pub on 10 Feb 17:57 collapse

Nonsense comment

ExLisper@lemmy.curiana.net on 10 Feb 15:59 next collapse

But were are they going to buy cheap gas?

Explanation: France is one of the biggest importer of Russian gas in EU, right after Putin allies Hungary and Slovakia.

bufalo1973@piefed.social on 10 Feb 17:36 collapse

Algeria.

WhyJiffie@sh.itjust.works on 10 Feb 21:39 collapse

do we have pipes from there yet?

bufalo1973@piefed.social on 10 Feb 21:47 collapse

There are already puppies from Algeria to Spain.

unexposedhazard@discuss.tchncs.de on 10 Feb 16:46 collapse

Thats what they have been doing for years now. The EU is the main source of equipment and funding for Ukraine.

gustofwind@lemmy.world on 10 Feb 16:50 collapse

That is simply false and America has been providing the majority of the funding until Trump took office only 1 year ago

unexposedhazard@discuss.tchncs.de on 10 Feb 17:00 collapse

Yeah no. Not just recently but also overall the EU is the main source of funding for Ukraine. Going into the future this will just become more and more one sided. It was closely matched, but even before Trump took office the EU was leading.

www.kielinstitut.de/…/ukraine-support-tracker

<img alt="" src="https://discuss.tchncs.de/pictrs/image/fed63d56-b5eb-4ca1-a505-947072db9d25.png">

gustofwind@lemmy.world on 10 Feb 17:08 next collapse

From the same source indicating until Trump America was the lead supporter. Not sure why there’s different data presentation

<img alt="" src="https://lemmy.world/pictrs/image/329bcea7-a40c-4631-82a9-ed5f091ffb7c.jpeg">

kielinstitut.de/…/ukraine-support-tracker-europe-…

unexposedhazard@discuss.tchncs.de on 10 Feb 17:15 collapse

Thats the same plot but formatted as “stacked”. So in this plot it is also even before 2025. Just admit that you were wrong and fuck off already. It doesnt even matter anyways because my original comment talked about “IS” not “WAS”. And it IS overall the main contributor and by a huge margin.

sockinggood@piefed.social on 10 Feb 17:49 collapse

I do not like Europe representated with a colour different than blue.

unexposedhazard@discuss.tchncs.de on 10 Feb 18:43 collapse

Yeah seems really inverted to me

Cruxifux@feddit.nl on 10 Feb 14:00 next collapse

Why is China always perceived as a threat?

JoMiran@lemmy.ml on 10 Feb 14:06 next collapse

Not all threats are military. China is the economic threat but it also has military might.

EDIT: From the article.

"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.

UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world on 10 Feb 14:14 next collapse

They’re wealthy, but not white

ayyy@sh.itjust.works on 10 Feb 16:52 next collapse

Because they like imperialism. All the imperialistic superpowers are a threat to humanity.

HobbitFoot@thelemmy.club on 10 Feb 17:39 collapse

China may not be perceived as a military threat, but it is credibly an economic threat. China is returning to a state where Europe has difficulty conducting trade with China as China will only accept natural resources for trade. That can be dangerous for an economy with a large safety net, declining productivity, and little in terms of natural resources.

Akasazh@lemmy.world on 10 Feb 14:11 next collapse

I really like Macron in his foreign policy mode, it just a shame he pissed the bed by opening a loophole that will be abused if ever an amoral president gets in power.

ExLisper@lemmy.curiana.net on 10 Feb 16:02 next collapse

EU leaders are waking up slowly. When they finally wake up and start acting Ukraine will be part of Russia and Greenland part of US.

Zorque@lemmy.world on 10 Feb 16:52 next collapse

It’s less about being a power. The British Empire was “A Power”. The US is “A Power”. Russia has been “A Power” and wants people to think it still is. China is “A Power”.

Unless you use it to the benefit of the people, it’s just posturing.

TrivialBetaState@sopuli.xyz on 10 Feb 17:18 next collapse

No. They are not ready. If all your computers and phones “phone home” with “home” being your adversary’s country (that’s how USA deals with Europe in the last year), then you cannot call yourself a world power. Most PCs in Europe use Windows and MacOS. Almost all phones are either Android or iOS. And even if they managed to replace all the software with locally developed Linux, all recent (last 20 years) x86 PCs have either Intel Management Engine or AMD Security Technology. If they chose to make intensive efforts to replace their systems, computers and phones, it would take at least a decade to achieve this. And even then, the US would likely be able to penetrate their systems. It’s so much easier to yield to the Emperor of the Western World for the perennially submissive European serfs.

bufalo1973@piefed.social on 10 Feb 17:37 next collapse

RISC-V ftw!

leftascenter@jlai.lu on 10 Feb 21:09 next collapse
iglou@programming.dev on 10 Feb 22:42 collapse

I think there is a bit more than digital independence involved. Europe could definitely be a world power if we stopped trying to appease everyone.

Paranoidfactoid@lemmy.world on 10 Feb 17:21 next collapse

I lived in Strasbourg during the 2018 Christmas terrorist attack. French gendarmerie kicked ass. Europe needs a standing army. Go build one.

mcv@lemmy.zip on 10 Feb 18:03 next collapse

More than a standing army, it needs to act united and decisively. More power for the Euro parliament and leadership that can take charge of crisis situations without having to negotiate with every single member state.

leftascenter@jlai.lu on 10 Feb 21:11 collapse

French gendarmerie kicked ass.

They’re going wild recently. (French news)

mediapart.fr/…/faut-leur-tirer-dans-la-gueule-la-…

FlashMobOfOne@lemmy.world on 10 Feb 17:42 next collapse

He’s right.

They need to focus on making every European nation a nuclear power. You can’t trust the US when we’re on our second consecutive brain-damaged president in a row.

plyth@feddit.org on 10 Feb 18:20 next collapse

They need to focus on making every European nation a nuclear power.

The power of nuclear weapons comes from being used in a retaliation strike. For that a submarine is needed. Soon space weapons are needed to disable the counter-measures.

Just 10 bombs and 10 bombers is not enough.

WhyJiffie@sh.itjust.works on 10 Feb 21:32 collapse

would you give hungary the bomb?

ParadeDuGrotesque@lemmy.sdf.org on 10 Feb 22:16 collapse

Yeah, what a fantastic idea: let’s give the Orban’s and the Meloni’s of Europe (stable geniuses one and all) things that go boom and make a nice mushroom cloud.

Fantastic.

We already have two nuclear powers in Europe.

ameancow@lemmy.world on 10 Feb 18:27 next collapse

This is like telling Lemmy US leftists that they need to start reinforcing their communities and getting social and start grassroots movements to get better representation in their states.

It’s a great message, but the mob is too varied and complacent to actually treat the situation as dire as it really is.

Formfiller@lemmy.world on 10 Feb 19:00 next collapse

That means cutting ties with Israel and the Zionist oligarchs trying to implement mass surveillance. They don’t seem to understand that basic reality though because they keep trying to force the digital ID through Zionist Larry Ellisons company Oracle onto their populace.

realitista@lemmus.org on 10 Feb 21:39 collapse

Long past time. United we stand, divided we fall.