London (Parliament News) – French President Emmanuel Macron denounces migrant relocation to Africa, cautioning against dependence, post-Brexit UK’s Rwanda plan, in a wide-ranging speech on European defence, urging swift and united action against global threats.
French President Emmanuel Macron has condemned migration policies that involve dispatching migrants to African nations as “a betrayal of our [European] values”, just days after the British government enacted its Rwanda deportation bill. The French president pushed the remarks in a wide-ranging address on Thursday aimed at warning Europe against over-dependence on other nations for security and trade.
How Does Macron Critique the UK’s Rwanda Bill?
According to the Guardian, During a speech diverting to migration, he stated he did not believe in “this model that some people desire to put in place, which suggests that you go and look for a third country, for instance in Africa, and send our immigrants there”. He added: “This is a betrayal of our values and will lead us down the path of new dependencies on third countries.”
Macron did not cite Rishi Sunak’s Rwanda plan directly but did not hold back in sharing his views on Brexit. Britain’s withdrawal from the EU was “an explosion whose adverse effects, from what I can tell, have suggested that today nobody dares to suggest exits, neither from Europe nor from the euro”.
He also represented the British as “natural allies” of France and the EU, expressing that defence treaties, such as the Lancaster House contracts signed in 2010 with the UK, left “a stable foundation for collaborations” that had not been affected by Brexit.
What Does Macron Warn About Europe’s Defense Dependency?
Delivered in a neoclassical theatre at the Sorbonne University in Paris, the speech concentrated heavily on defence, as Macron suggested European leaders react to the “paradigm shift” of the invasion of Ukraine by a nuclear-armed Russia.
“The basic condition for our security is for Russia not to win,” he said. “Europe needs to be able to protect what is dear to it alongside its allies … Do we need to have an anti-missile shield or anti-missile system? Maybe.”
“When we have a neighbouring country that has become bold and seems to have no limits and that has ballistic missiles [and has] been innovating a lot when it comes to the technology and the range of these missiles, we notice that we have to set up this strategic concept of credible defence.”
What Defense Measures Does Macron Advocate Amidst Global Threats?
Macron called for collaboration between European armies, “regional European defence frameworks” in the Mediterranean and Arctic, as well as an EU military academy. Europe could not be “a vassal” of the US and had to “demonstrate that it knows how to talk to all the other regions of the world”, he added.
Speaking as one of Europe’s most influential decision-makers, but whose influence could wane with the declining poll ratings of his centrist group, Macron claimed that the “European sovereignty agenda” laid out in 2017 had been widely enforced, but threats to Europe’s position in the world had become more acute. “Europe is mortal, it can die and this only depends on our choices,” he stated.
.
Referring to the US-China rivalry, Iran’s nuclear initiatives and Russia’s aggression, Macron spoke of an “acceleration in the world” to which the EU was failing to react adequately. “Europe is in a situation of being cornered on all its borders and we are reacting too slowly,” Macron declared.