French President Emmanuel Macron today encouraged Europe to “invest massively” in defensein alliance with NATO but also at a continental level, beyond the borders of the European Union.

During the Munich Security Conference has advocated “intensifying support” for Ukraine until it can “launch a counteroffensive” to force Russia to talk under “credible” conditions and “chosen” by kyiv. “We’re ready to step it up today because the days and weeks ahead are decisive and we are prepared for a protracted conflict. I don’t want it, but mostly because we don’t want it, we must be credible in our ability to sustain that effort,” Macron invited when speaking at the forum.

“Russia is a power of imbalance and injustice”, with a mentality “neocolonial and neoimperialist”, the French president asserted, and Moscow must “fail” if “we want a stable international order and lasting peace.” In this context, Macron called on Europe to “invest massively” in defense. “None of us will change the geography of Russia, the fact that will always be on European soiland none of us can change the fate and our dilemma that there will be no lasting peace”he said, until we “take charge” of the Russian question”, in search of solutions but without “naivety”.

“Today there can be no dialogue because we have a Russia that has chosen war,” Macron specified, who was also very skeptical of the possibility of a “regime change” in Moscow. For the French leader, the current war is consequence of the fact that “Russia did not digest the end of an empire” and “post-1990 resentment.” But overall, he asserted that neither the Russians nor the Europeans read the post-Cold War context correctly, when they went overnight from the Iron Curtain to a phase of “Honeymoon”.

Reaffirm the nuclear nature of the Atlantic Alliance

Macron talked about intensify defense efforts at the strategic and material level, increasing the European capacity to produce and innovate, not only in traditional sectors such as arms and air. Thus, he asked to consider the potential sources of destabilization in the future, such as the cybercrime and disinformation campaigns.

also asked “take into account” the nuclear factor, an issue that is also in the “shadows” of the war in Ukraine. “French deterrence occupies a specific position that contributes in Europe, as well as that of the United Kingdom, to the overall alliance security reinforcement. Obviously, our allies also play an essential role in this, and I hope that reaffirm the nuclear character of the Atlantic Alliance”he stressed.

In his speech at this defense forum, Macron also had an impact on the need to reform the international order -UN Security Council included- with more North-South integration and cooperation. “The Security Council is part of it. A permanent member just decided to annihilate the rules that he was supposed to protect, so we have to reconfigure him and give it a new shape,” he said.