Read our full interview with France's president, on the future of Europe, the status of NATO and President Donald Trump
I don't want to stigmatise any manufacturer in particular, it wouldn't be effective. And those on the other side of the Atlantic who have occasionally stigmatised them ended up making deals. I'm just saying that we have two European manufacturers: Ericsson and Nokia. We have a number of key issues.
We have to be clear-sighted. I’m trying to understand the world as it is, I’m not lecturing anyone. I may be wrong. Can we blame anyone for not having seen this five or ten years ago? The United States also has its weaknesses. Take 5G: huge country, the biggest technology market. They no longer have their own genuine 5G players. They are dependent on the technology of others, the Europeans or Chinese. So it's not easy for anyone.
As to the question of whether we change constitution, personally I don’t see the topic as closed, I’ve said that several times. But the question of whether we share the same agenda, in other words of pooling more in order to move towards a system that is somehow looser, softer, less and less strategic, I’m not in favour of that. I’m in favour of making things more effective, deciding more quickly, more clearly, changing the dogma and ideology that drive us collectively today.
I would widen the focus. We’re in a geopolitical situation where no one can really describe China’s budgetary state. We assume that they’re going for it, they’re investing massively. The United States has increased its deficit in order to invest in strategic issues and boost the middle-income brackets. As Europe is alone in consolidating, what is Europe’s situation today? I’ve said this to other bosses in rather brutal terms, but it is a macroeconomic and financial reality.
I don’t think it’s in the least incompatible. Because it’s first of all what enables us to be effective and have leverage in the European neighbourhood. It’s also what allows us to enact the fact that, for me, the point of military power is not necessarily for it to be used. It’s used in the fight against terrorism, in Africa, and as a partner in the international coalition. However, it essentially serves our diplomacy.
The question now is whether our model is sustainable, because I see people everywhere in our countries who are willing to go back on some of these parameters. People who say: “Well, I'm having second thoughts about the market economy, maybe in fact we should withdraw from the world and move towards protectionism or isolationism.
One option is: rebuild a superpower by itself. That will be extremely difficult, even if our own errors have given it some leverage. We showed ourselves to be weak in 2013-2014, and Ukraine happened. Today Russia is optimising its game in Syria because of our own errors. We’re giving it some breathing space, so it can still play that way.
And when you speak to your counterparts in Poland and the Baltic States about this vision, what do they say?It depends on the country. In Poland, there’s some concern. But I'm starting to talk to them. Obviously I’ve talked about it first with Germany, but I do have partners who are moving on this. Finland has moved significantly, they’re in the European Intervention Initiative. I went to Finland, I was the first French President in more than 15 years to go there.
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