At the Toulouse space summit, Emmanuel Macron defends the “sovereignty” of Europe
“Rediscovering our spirit of conquest to build a new France. » During the 2017 presidential campaign, Emmanuel Macron presented himself as the candidate of the “progressivism”, carrying an optimistic vision of the future. Way to caricature his adversaries of the time as the candidates “of decline and defeat”. Five years later, the former economy minister has come a long way to become head of state. But the position remains the same.
While his announcement of candidacy for the presidential election is imminent – it should take place next week, according to his entourage – Emmanuel Macron again played this refrain, Wednesday February 16, during a summit won in space, in Toulouse, as part of the French Presidency of the Council of the European Union (EU).
“Not to depend on the choice of others, that is our ambition”, Emmanuel Macron
It front of “fanaticism” and to “selfishness”the head of state urged the twenty-seven pays members to “carrying an ambitious vision of the conquest of space”. An area in which Europe absolutely must catch up with its competitors, according to him, in order to defend its “sovereignty”. A key word that Mr. Macron repeated many times, during a speech of about thirty minutes, to underline the importance for the EU of building its strategic independence from powers like the United States. , China or Russia. But also vis-à-vis “large private multinationals”in particular the Americans SpaceX, billionaire Elon Musk or Amazon. “Not depending on the choice of others, that is our ambition”, he summarized. Whether in Internet access, satellite navigation, or observing the movements of the various armies on the planet.
“Space cannot be an area of lawlessness”
An objective, which, according to him, passes through the construction of “reusable micro-launchers”. But also by the development by Europe of its own constellation of satellites. Following an agreement on this subject, Wednesday, in Toulouse, during a meeting of the twenty-seven European ministers responsible for space, Mr. Macron stressed the importance of having an autonomous and secure Internet network. Without forgetting to insist on the need to rebuild “regulatory framework” to better protect European satellites against “assaults” which multiplies. “Space cannot be an area of lawlessness”, he warned. A reference to the anti-satellite missile launch, carried out by Russia, in November, which endangered members of the International Space Station.
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