A MEGA RESPONSE TO MAGA

Macron wants to Make Europe Great Again, borrowing from Trumpian MAGA ideas and protectionist Bidenomics. The Euro polls may influence this process

- PS RAGHAVAN

Nabout a week, elections will determine the complexion of a new European parliament. They would show how the public evaluates policies of Europe's decision-makers on security, economic challenges, energy transition and migration. Polls project right and farright parties may increase representation, perhaps even displacing the centre-left as the second largest grouping.

In April, France's President Emmanuel Macron laid out a characteristically frank analysis of Europe's challenges, declaring it would "die" if it did not wake up to current realities. Macron said Europe today encounters hostility from Russia, lack of interest from the US and competition from China. The US has only two priorities: America First and China. Europe is not a geopolitical priority. It has to find strategies to prevent marginalisation and relegation.

Macron's prescriptions include policies to accelerate self-reliance in raw materials, semiconductors, digital technologies and healthcare; and strategies to make Europe a world leader in artificial intelligence, quantum computing, space, biotechnologies and new energy by 2030. 'Food sovereignty' and energy transition policies with economic growth should be priorities.

The centrepiece of Macron's recipe is a strong European defence capacity, with a full spectrum of military capabilities. This needs a Europe-wide defence industrial strategy, consolidating specialisations of major players, a "European preference" for military acquisitions and addressing the mismatch of specifications and standards (which was shown up in the assistance extended to Ukraine). It envisages strategic cohesion between European armies and a rapid reaction force, creating an autonomous European capacity to pursue its own defence strategies "in the Mediterranean, Africa, the Indo-Pacific and the Arctic".