Macron and Starmer try to rescue Europe from Trump's attacks

ParisIt would not be accurate to say that the political storm caused by Donald Trump has taken Europe by surprise. The tycoon turned US president already demonstrated during his first term his unorthodox way of doing politics and his tendency to make changes on the world geopolitical chessboard. But in these first weeks of his second term, a hyperactive and aggressive Trump has demonstrated an unprecedented degree of unpredictability, with the threat of a trade war, with a rapprochement with Russian President Vladimir Putin, and with harsh verbal attacks on the President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky. Europe is bewildered and disoriented.

The countries of the Old Continent are beginning to become aware of the danger posed by Trump. Their decisions can change the rules of the game in geopolitics and plunge Western countries and NATO into uncertainty. "For Europe, the real danger is Trump, not Putin," wrote Eric Le Boucher, an editorialist for the economic daily this week. The Echos"The American president is threatening the international structure built by the United States since the end of the Second World War," says Charles-Philippe David, professor of political science at the University of Quebec, in an interview on The World.

Even the United Kingdom, a historic ally and protégé of Washington, is watching the situation with stupefaction and concern. Although Prime Minister Keir Starmer has always avoided directly criticizing Trump, London is bewildered by the distance that the new tenant of the White House is marking with the United Kingdom. Five years after Brexit, the country is forced to seek alliances with the European Union: Starmer not only attended Monday's European summit in Paris but also sided with France on the proposal to send a peacekeeping contingent to Ukraine, which could consist of 30,000 soldiers, when there is a ceasefire.

Leading Europe

With Europe disoriented and frightened by Trump's attacks and a blurred Franco-German axis, the President of France, Emmanuel Macron, has established himself as a European leader, as an interlocutor of the Twenty-Seven with Trump. Macron, who has been warning for years of the need for Europe to be militarily sovereign, has proposed to lead the talks to prevent Washington from leaving the European Union out of the game in the negotiations on Ukraine. The fact that Europe has been excluded by the will of the United States, until recently an ally in the war in Ukraine, is a real disappointment that the President of the Republic is trying to reverse. Starmer is ready to join forces with his French counterpart. Together they lead the response of the European continent to the aggressions of the United States.

With Germany holding federal elections, Macron has the green light to take back the realms of the European Union. The European capital seems to have moved to Paris in recent days. The tenant of the Elysée Palace called two emergency summits this week to coordinate a European response to the US intention not to invite the European club to peace talks and this Sunday he travels to Washington, where on Monday he will meet the US president. He is the first European leader to visit the White House since Trump returned to the Oval Office. The British Prime Minister will also meet the US president on Thursday.

Regular contact with Trump

Macron, very weakened internally, is trying to capitalize on his leadership capacity in Europe. If in France he is losing popularity with each passing day, On the international scene, he is still a respected leader, with charisma and ambition, with the ability to get Putin or Trump to pick up the phone. "He has been in regular contact with Trump since his re-election, they have a unique relationship," say sources at the Elysée. The French president will meet his American counterpart to discuss Ukraine and other issues such as the tariffs he wants to impose on Europe. The trade war that Trump is about to start is also causing many fears in Europe. The economic consequences are unpredictable.

According to sources at the Elysée, Macron will attend the meeting with the aim of ending the war in Ukraine, "the same objective as Trump." The French president has at all times avoided a head-on clash with the new American president. His strategy is to convince and not seek a fight. In a conversation with Internet users broadcast live on social media last Thursday, Emmanuel Macron announced that he will try to convince the American president of the dangers of getting closer to Moscow. "I will say to Trump: you cannot be weak in front of President Putin [...]. How can you be credible in front of China if you are weak in front of Putin?" said Macron.

Three years ago, on the brink of war, he tried to stop Putin with direct talks with the Russian president. His diplomatic efforts were of no use. Now he will try to make Trump see that the enemy is Russia and not Ukraine or Europe. The EU countries fear for their own security if Russia imposes peace by force with the approval of the United States and obtains Ukrainian territory. Macron is clear that Putin could decide to attack European territory. "The impossible can happen," he warned this week.