EU needs to become ‘omnivorous’ – Macron

If the bloc remains a ‘herbivore’, it will be devoured by the ‘carnivores’ on the world stage, the French president has said

The EU in its current state is a ‘herbivore’ surrounded by “carnivores,” and must become bolder and less dependent on the US and China, French President Emmanuel Macron has said.

The president made the remarks on Thursday while addressing EU leaders at the fifth European Political Community summit in Budapest, Hungary. Macron reiterated his longstanding message that the bloc should play a more assertive role in global affairs.

”For me, it’s simple. The world is made up of herbivores and carnivores. If we decide to remain herbivores, then the carnivores will win and we will be a market for them,” Macron said. He cautioned, however, against becoming too “aggressive.”

“I think, at the very least, we should choose to become omnivores. I don’t want to be aggressive, just that we know how to defend ourselves on all these subjects.”

The French president urged the EU to lower its dependency on major foreign actors, including the US and China. Delegating economic development and its geopolitics to third parties has ultimately turned out to be “not the best idea,” he said.

“We [in Europe] think that we should delegate our geopolitics to the United States of America, that we should delegate our growth debt to our Chinese clients, that we should delegate our technological innovation to the American hyper-scalers,” Macron stated.

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The EU should stop acting like a “supermarket open to all,” he said. “Our open liberal democracy model is a target for other powers with opposing agendas who seek to divide us.”

The US-led NATO bloc currently plays a “key role” in European security, Macron noted, urging the EU to reduce its dependance on Washington in this sphere. The French leader has long advocated for creating a joint EU military, yet the idea has thus far failed to materialize.

“And within NATO, we want to play our role… There has been a strategic awakening that we Europeans must take on. We must not delegate our security to Americans forever,” Macron stated.

Macron also touched upon Donald Trump winning the US presidential election earlier this week, stressing that the EU must now do more on its own. EU politicians have long feared that a comeback by Trump could result in a new trade war between the bloc and the US and have already reportedly come up with action plans for this scenario.

“[Trump] was elected by the American people, and he will defend the Americans’ interests, and this is legitimate and a good thing. The question is, are we ready to defend Europeans’ interests?” Macron said.