Transcription
If a country can invade its neighbor in Europe with impunity, then no one can be sure of anything. The law of the strongest applies, and peace can no longer be guaranteed on our continent. Even history has taught us this.
Beyond Ukraine, the Russian threat is present and affects European countries; it affects us. Russia has already made the Ukrainian conflict a global conflict. It has mobilized North Korean soldiers and Iranian equipment on our continent, while helping these countries to arm themselves further. President Putin's Russia violates our borders to assassinate opponents, manipulates elections in Romania and Moldova, and organizes digital attacks against our hospitals to block their operation. Russia attempts to manipulate our opinions with lies spread on social networks, and fundamentally, it tests our limits. It does so in the air, at sea, in space, and behind our screens. This aggressiveness seems to know no bounds, and at the same time, Russia continues to rearm, spending more than 40% of its budget to this end. By 2030, it plans to further increase its army, adding 300,000 soldiers, 3,000 tanks, and 300 more fighter jets.
Who, in this context, can believe that today's Russia will stop at Ukraine? Russia has become, at this very moment and for years to come, a threat to France and to Europe. I deeply regret this, and I am convinced that in the long term, peace will be achieved on our continent with a Russia that has become appeased and peaceful. But the situation I am describing is what it is, and we must deal with it. In the face of this dangerous world, remaining a spectator would be folly. We must immediately make decisions for Ukraine, for the security of the French, for the security of Europeans, for Ukraine first. All initiatives aimed at peace are heading in the right direction, and I want to salute them tonight. We must continue to help Ukrainians resist until they can negotiate a solid peace with Russia, for themselves and for all of us. That is why the path to peace cannot pass through the abandonment of Ukraine; quite the contrary. Peace cannot be achieved at any price and under Russian dictation. Peace cannot be Ukraine's capitulation; it cannot be its collapse. It cannot be a ceasefire that would be too fragile. Why? Because here too, we have past experience. We cannot forget that Russia began invading Ukraine in 2014, and that we then negotiated a ceasefire in Minsk. The same Russia did not respect this ceasefire, and we were not able to maintain the balance for lack of solid guarantees. Today, Russia cannot be trusted at its word. Ukraine has the right to peace and security for itself, and this is in our interest and in the interest of the security of the European continent. It is in this sense that we are working with our British, German, and several other European friends. That is why you have seen me in recent weeks bringing several of them together in Paris, and meeting them a few days ago in London, to consolidate the commitments necessary for Ukraine.
Once peace is signed, so that Ukraine is not invaded again by Russia, we must prepare for it. This will certainly involve long-term support for the Ukrainian army. It may also involve the deployment of European forces. These forces would not go to fight today; they would not go to fight on the front line, but they would be there, on the contrary, once peace is signed, to guarantee its full respect. Next week, we will bring together in Paris the chiefs of staff of the countries that wish to take their responsibilities in this regard. This is a plan for a solid, lasting, verifiable peace that we have prepared with the Ukrainians and several other European partners, and that I defended in the United States 15 days ago and throughout Europe. I want to believe that the United States will remain by our side, but we must be prepared if that were not the case.
Whether peace in Ukraine is achieved quickly or not, European states, given the Russian threat I have just described, must be able to better defend themselves and deter any further aggression. Yes, whatever happens, we must equip ourselves more, raise our defense posture, and this for peace, even to deter. To this end, we remain committed to NATO and our partnership with the United States of America, but we must do more, strengthen our independence in defense and security. The future of Europe does not have to be decided in Washington or Moscow. Yes, the threat comes from the east, and the innocence, in a way, of the last 30 years since the fall of the Berlin Wall is now over.
Tomorrow in Brussels, at the extraordinary council that will bring together the 27 heads of state and government with the Commission and the President of the Council, we will take decisive steps. Several decisions will be taken that France has been proposing for several years. Member states will be able to increase their military spending without it being taken into account in their deficit. Massive joint financing will be decided to buy and produce munitions, tanks, weapons, and the most innovative equipment on European soil. I have asked the government to be mobilized so that, on the one hand, this strengthens our armies as quickly as possible, and on the other hand, that it accelerates reindustrialization in all our regions. I will meet with the competent ministers and industry leaders in the sector in the coming days. The Europe of defense that we have been defending for 8 years is therefore becoming a reality. This means European countries that are more prepared to defend and protect themselves, that produce together the equipment they need on their soil, that are ready to cooperate more to reduce their dependence on the rest of the world, and this is a good thing. Germany, Poland, Denmark, the Baltic states, and many of our partners have announced unprecedented efforts in military spending.
So, in this time of action that is finally opening, France has a special status. We have the most effective army in Europe, and thanks to the choices made by our elders after the Second World War, we are equipped with nuclear deterrence capabilities. This protects us much more than many of our neighbors. Furthermore, we did not wait for the invasion of Ukraine to note a worrying world. Through the two military programming laws that I have decided and that successive parliaments have voted, we will have doubled the budget of our armies in almost 10 years. But given the evolution of threats and the acceleration I have just described, we will have to make new budgetary choices and additional investments that have now become indispensable. I have asked the government to work on this as quickly as possible. These will be new investments that require mobilizing private financing but also public financing without increasing taxes. This will require reforms, choices, courage.
Our nuclear deterrence protects us; it is complete, sovereign, and French from end to end. Since 1964, it has explicitly always played a role in preserving peace and security in Europe. But responding to the historical appeal of the future German Chancellor, I have decided to open the strategic debate on the protection of our allies on the European continent by our deterrence. Whatever happens, the decision has always been and will remain in the hands of the President of the Republic, head of the armed forces. To control our destiny, to become more independent, we must strive on a military level, but also on an economic level. Yes, economic, technological, industrial, and financial independence are necessities. We must also prepare for the United States to decide on tariffs on European goods, as they have just confirmed against Canada and Mexico. This incomprehensible decision, both for the American and our economy, will have consequences on some of our sectors. It increases the difficulty of the moment, but it will not go unanswered on our part. So, while preparing the response with our European colleagues, we will continue, as I did 15 days ago, to do everything to convince them that this decision would harm us all, and I hope to convince and dissuade the President of the United States of America.
In total, the moment demands unprecedented decisions for many decades on our agriculture, our research, our industry, on all our public policies. We cannot have the same debates as before. That is why I have asked the Prime Minister and his government, and I invite all the political, economic, and trade union forces of the country, to make proposals in light of this new context. The solutions of tomorrow cannot be the habits of yesterday. My dear compatriots, faced with these challenges and these irreversible changes, we must not yield to any excess, neither the excess of warmongers nor the excess of defeatists. France will only follow one course: that of will for peace and freedom, faithful in this to its history and its principles. Yes, this is what we believe in for our security, but this is also what we believe in to defend democracy, a certain idea of truth, a certain idea of free research, respect in our societies, a certain idea of freedom of expression, which is not the return of hate speech. Fundamentally, a certain idea of humanism. This is what we carry and what is at stake. Our Europe possesses the economic strength, the power, and the talent to rise to the occasion of this era. And compared to the United States of America and to Russia, we have the means. We must therefore act by being united, as Europeans, and protecting ourselves. That is why the fatherland needs you, your commitment. Political decisions, military equipment, budgets are one thing, but they will never replace the strength of soul of a nation. Our generation will no longer touch the dividends of peace. It is up to us that our children harvest tomorrow the dividends of our commitments. Then we will face it together. Long live the Republic! Long live France!