Macron blames Obama NOT Donald Trump for US moving away from the EU
FRENCH president Emmanuel Macon has blamed Barack Obama for the EU's "exceptional fragility", claiming Europe was "basically built to be the Americans’ junior partner".
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He accused the former US president shifting focus to the Pacific from the Atlantic, which "marginalised" and weakened Europe's role in global affairs. In an interview with the Economist, Mr Macron was critical of President Trump but laid the blame for fraying the ties between the US and EU on his predecessor.
He said "world peace and the domination of Western values" had historically been reliant on the US' relationship with the Europe, which was "basically built to be the Americans’ junior partner".
"But their position has shifted over the past 10 years. And it hasn’t only been the Trump administration.
"It’s the idea put forward by President Obama: 'I am a Pacific president'.
"So the United States were looking elsewhere - they were looking at China and the American continent.”
He also blamed Obama of "the failure to intervene in response to the use of chemical weapons in Syria, which was already the first stage in the collapse of the Western bloc."
He added: "At that point, the major regional powers said to themselves, 'the West is weak.'
"Things that had already begun implicitly became apparent in recent years."
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The French president told the magazine he believes Nato is suffering from "brain death", blaming Mr Trump for gutting the 70-year-old military alliance.
He said: “The instability of our American partner and rising tensions have meant that the idea of European defence is gradually taking hold.
“I would add that we will at some stage have to take stock of Nato. To my mind, what we are currently experiencing is the brain death of Nato.”
He warned Europe would "no longer be in control of our destiny" and said it must behave as a global power or "disappear".
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The French president's provocative comments came under from European allies, including from Slovakia’s foreign minister Miroslav Lajčák who said the US is “irreplaceable” in Europe’s security and defence.
Germany’s defence minister, Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer, has Nato remains a “decisive cornerstone” of European security.
Berlin has refused to enlist in Mr Macron’s proposed European defence force, insisting the trans Atlantic alliance remains the best route.
Heiko Maas, Germany’s foreign minister, said: “We do want a strong and sovereign Europe.
“But we need it as part of a strong Nato, and not as a substitute.”
Incoming European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen also hit out at Mr Macron, claiming Nato had "proven itself to be a wonderful shield of freedom".
She added: “The history of Europe can’t be told without Nato."