The recent presence of French President Macron at the GLOBSEC conference in Bratislava, Slovakia, last May meant a certain shift in the outlook on the question of European security and the possible peaceful arrangement of the continent, that is, the concept of a sovereign Europe, which Macron himself has been promoting for a long time.
President Macron said at the conference that after twenty years, he no longer sees differences between “old” and “new” Europe, nor between Eastern and Western Europe. He even emphasized that this difference was only a temporary consequence of the Cold War. From the fact that representatives from the South Caucasus and the Western Balkans, as well as the EU, participated this year in the GLOBSEC conference, political observers conclude that the future European security architecture was being developed in Bratislava.
In his speech, referring to his previous positions, he stated that the EU has not yet been able to formulate its own security system, which was left to NATO. Russia could then simply exert its influence in those former Soviet republics that were looking towards EU membership, either directly militarily or through various pressures. The EU, which concluded association agreements with some former Soviet republics, was unable to respond appropriately because it does not have its own security instrument. As Macron said, “we did not provide security guarantees to some states. It was a mistake, we shouldn’t have done it that way. Our approach to Russia was based on dependence on raw materials, which was not coherent,” Macron explained.
The European security architecture acquired much clearer contours after the Russian aggression against Ukraine. In Versailles, France, in March 2022, the EU adopted a declaration in which it signed up for the creation of a European security architecture, which should be the starting point for European sovereignty and autonomy. The effective result of the adopted declaration was, for example, a quick operation by which the EU got rid of its energy dependence on Russia in a short time and provided Ukraine with billions of aid packages, including military aid. It also adopted a dozen packages of anti-Russian sanctions.
The fundamental idea of the European security architecture is that the EU will become a sovereign and autonomous legal subject of all treaties related to the continent’s security matters. The future of Europe should then not be dependent on any other power. Macron openly talked about the fact that after the experience with Trump, Europe cannot “be dependent on the will of the American voters…”
“What are the future scenarios for Europe?” Macron asked. Although the Eastern wing has been strengthened, it may not be enough in the long run. The current American administration is on the side of the EU, but we have to wonder if this will not change in the future,” Macron said, referring to the deployment of alliance troops on its eastern flank. At the same time, according to Macron, the EU must reckon with a non-confrontational policy towards Russia and focus on rebuilding a sustainable balance of power.
In conclusion, for completeness, it should be stated that Emmanuel Macron’s appearance in Bratislava further advances the original vision of the EU, which in its 2016 global strategy formally set itself the goal of achieving “strategic autonomy” in the area of security and defense. However, representatives of the US administration and the security community almost unanimously condemned this EU ambition, which they saw as undermining NATO.
