Europe | The future of the EU

Emmanuel Macron warns Europe: NATO is becoming brain-dead

America is turning its back on the European project. Time to wake up, the French president tells The Economist

EMMANUEL MACRON, the French president, has warned European countries that they can no longer rely on America to defend NATO allies. “What we are currently experiencing is the brain death of NATO,” Mr Macron declares in a blunt interview with The Economist. Europe stands on “the edge of a precipice”, he says, and needs to start thinking of itself strategically as a geopolitical power; otherwise we will “no longer be in control of our destiny.”

More from Europe

The European flag with one of the stars as the red maple leaf representing Canada.

Why Canada should join the EU

Europe needs space and resources, Canada needs people. Let’s deal

 Elon Musk speaks at a campaign rally in New York

Elon Musk’s praise for the far right infuriates most of Germany

A controversial op-ed may have set the terms of the election campaign


Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic news conference in Belgrade

Serbia and its neighbours are still far from joining the EU

Donald Trump could bring the region yet more upheaval


Finland seizes a tanker, getting tough on hybrid warfare

Russian-linked attacks on undersea infrastructure are rising

A Prague-Berlin train loses its old-world dining cars

The looming end of the Knödelexpress

Inside Ukraine’s secret missile programme

With foreign aid uncertain, Ukraine revives its rocket industry