It's either submission or the United States of Europe!

Opinion column published in la Tribune de Genève

After a month of the Trump presidency, it is clear that the United States is no longer our ally. His imperialist statements on the Panama Canal, Canada or Greenland, his threats of trade wars, his dialogue with a dictator responsible for the most serious war of aggression in Europe since 1945, prove it.

After the attempted media humiliation of Zelensky, the attacks on European democracy and the presence of American forces on our continent, the end of the transatlantic alliance concluded by Churchill and Roosevelt in the face of the Nazi threat is near. We are witnessing the emergence of a Trump-Putin axis hostile to international law, multilateralism and democracy. We refuse to collude with Putin to impose a solution that legitimises aggression and does not guarantee our security.

What can we do about it? First of all, we need to wake up to the new reality. Until recently, some EU leaders were in denial, taking refuge in the Atlanticist mantra. Europe is on its own, like Great Britain in 1940. It must take responsibility for its own destiny.

We need to integrate Ukraine into the EU economy, with the exception of agriculture, conclude a rare earths agreement and step up our support. American aid, which is less than that of Europe, which is one of the strongest economies in the world, is not irreplaceable. Germany must deliver the long-range Taurus missiles. We must remove all restrictions against conventional Russian military targets, step up sanctions against the Russian shadow oil fleet and make use of the €200 billion in frozen financial assets of the aggressor state.

Faced with this threat, we need to launch a European industrial plan financed by common debt and own resources. The aim is to close the technology, investment and competitiveness gaps identified in the Draghi report, while strengthening our defence industry, in particular by creating a European Armaments Bank.

But in the face of this existential challenge, joint arms production will not be enough.

We must create a European Defence Community with the participation of Ukraine. It will guarantee our territorial defence, as a European pillar of NATO that can be mobilised independently of Washington.

This is possible under the provisions of the Lisbon Treaty on common European defence and permanent structured cooperation. If Trump's allies in the European Council block this proposal, a separate interim treaty will have to be concluded. We are also proposing to extend the benefits of the nuclear deterrent to all Member States willing to contribute to the financing of France's arsenal.

At the same time, we need to strengthen our political and democratic union, do away with national vetoes and give more powers to the European Parliament through a federal reform of the Treaties.

What else is needed for a reaction to occur? The arrival of Russian soldiers in Warsaw?

It's either the United States of Europe or submission.

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