French President Emmanuel Macron is hosting world leaders this week for his final G7 summit as President of France, believing that the second term of US President Donald Trump has confirmed his dream of a stronger Europe, but this vision is far from realization, AFP reports, according to UNN.
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Then a young former banker not yet 40 years old, Macron came to power in 2017 with little political experience but big ideas, one of which was that Europe must achieve strategic autonomy and be less dependent on the United States.
Macron most famously articulated his vision at this year's World Economic Forum in Davos, where, wearing aviator sunglasses due to an eye issue and punctuating his speech with the English phrase "for sure," he said Europe must stand up to "bullies" and be "much stronger and more autonomous."
Now, in the final year of his presidency, Macron has a chance to advance his vision at a meeting of the seven leading powers, where Trump will sit at the negotiating table with France's top European allies, as well as Canada and Japan.
"France presides over the G7 with a clear ambition – to restore the G7 as a forum for frank dialogue between leading economies," Macron stated in Davos in January.
With Trump at the center of attention at the G7 summit in Évian-les-Bains, Macron will meet with the US leader before the summit begins on Monday, and then invite him to dinner at the Palace of Versailles outside Paris on Wednesday.
"Battle of Ideas"
Macron's aides never tire of arguing that Trump's protectionist trade policies, American unilateralism on the international stage, and even threats to withdraw from NATO prove the French leader right. His chief foreign policy advisor, Emmanuel Bonne, simply stated: "Macron was right."
But Europe is far from seeing Macron's vision come to life; it has largely played the role of a bystander in the Iranian crisis, while only minimal progress has been made toward its own defense, the publication points out.
While Macron may have "won the battle of ideas," he has only partially succeeded in turning his intuition into collective action to change Europe, said former French diplomat Michel Duclos, a senior fellow at the Institut Montaigne.
"It is true that we are witnessing a conceptual victory for Macron," Duclos said. But the former ambassador added: "In diplomacy, being right is sometimes less important than achieving operational results."
Radical steps by the Trump administration, including threats to annex the Danish territory of Greenland, increased Macron's credibility, and allies were also impressed by bold initiatives such as sharing the French nuclear deterrent, the publication writes.
"Regarding relations with the United States, Macron realized early on that Trump is not an aberration of history, but a manifestation of something much deeper," added Rym Momtaz of Carnegie Europe.
However, "he did not know how or was unable to convince his European partners quickly enough of the need for transformation."
"Articulate a vision"
In a recent setback symbolic of Europe's shortcomings, France and Germany announced last week that they had agreed to abandon the joint FCAS fighter jet program, which dates back to 2017, due to disagreements between the participating companies.
"Over the last decade, critics have also accused Macron of changing course on key issues; in particular, after Russia's invasion of Ukraine, he moved from a position of seeking rapprochement with Moscow to full support for Kyiv," the publication writes. "He also went from being criticized for excessive support for Israel to angering the Israeli leadership by recognizing a Palestinian state last year," the publication notes.
Internal political instability, as the publication writes, has led to no fewer than five French prime ministers during his second mandate since 2022, and his flagship pension reform, aimed at easing long-term budget pressure, has been postponed.
A European diplomat, who asked not to be named, said the French leader is "one of the few who has clearly articulated his vision."
But Macron has also suffered from "credibility issues" related to "his political weakness" and budgetary failures in France, the diplomat added.
Trump weakens NATO and undermines trust in the Alliance - Macron02.04.26, 17:47