ATHENS, Greece (AP) — The European Union’s ongoing push to strengthen its own defense capabilities is not intended to create an alternative to the NATO alliance but to respond to longstanding U.S. calls for the continent to take charge of its own security, the French president said Saturday.
Emmanuel Macron said Europe should not act to weaken NATO, which binds the continent to its US ally. Instead, Europeans are now stepping up to meet Washington’s demands over the past decade to take care of their own security “sometimes better, sometimes less well.”
“The lesson we have to learn is that we are no longer dependent,” Macron said after talks with Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis. “We Europeans must strengthen this European pillar of NATO, we must strengthen this Europe of defense – not against anyone, not as a substitute for anything.”
Mitsotakis, echoing the French president, said the US should be happy that the EU is taking its self-reliance seriously and is investing more in its defence, calling US demands for more spending “justified”.
After a trip to Cyprus for an informal EU leaders’ summit, Macron visited the Greek capital to renew the 2021 defense partnership between France and Greece, which includes a clause on mutual assistance in the event of an armed attack against either.
“This mutual assurance and assistance clause is indispensable, and it is not up for debate between us,” Macron said. “So there are no question marks, no doubts to be entertained – and all our potential, or actual, enemies need to be very clear about that.”
The €3 billion deal bought 24 Rafale fighter jets and four state-of-the-art frigates, including the Kimon, which Macron and Mitsotakis visited on Saturday.
Greece, long at loggerheads with its eastern neighbor Turkey, is improving its military capabilities and most of its defense purchases come from France. Among them is the French MICA anti-air-missile system that can be used by aircraft, ground forces and warships.
Both leaders hailed the agreement as an example for other EU partners to follow and to boost the competitiveness of the 27-member bloc. Mitsotakis encouraged EU leaders to drop the “national arrogance” that draws a protective veil over their domestic industry and move forward with more mergers to produce economies of scale.
Macron emphasized the need for European industry to innovate and win over consumers with better, more desirable products that finance the EU’s defense goals.
“All of us Europeans – the Franco-Greek relationship is a prime example – need to buy more European products, produce more European goods, and innovate more within Europe,” he said.
Both leaders referred to Article 42.7, the EU’s own mutual defense clause, which Macron said was more than “empty words”. The French president pointed to both countries’ rush to help fellow EU member Cyprus by sending warships there in early March after a Shahad drone attack on a British base on the island nation during the Iran war.
The French president warned against stoking panic by talking about fuel shortages as a result of the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, through which about a fifth of the world’s oil and gas passes. He said fuel supplies remain “under control” and he does not foresee any shortages.
He said Europe was focused on helping to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, although he acknowledged it would take some time for the situation to return to normal.
Mitsotakis said that Greece, as a global shipping power, wants any diplomatic solution to include a “non-negotiable” clause for full and uninterrupted freedom of navigation through the strait without charging tolls from ships, as was the case before the start of the Iran war.
