French President Emmanuel Macron has called on the EU to bolster its own defences amid concerns it is "dying."
During a speech on the future of Europe at Sorbonne University in Paris, Macron gave a speech described by his advisers as a roadmap for Europe.
While he described Brexit as one of the "unprecedented crises" Europe has faced in recent years, President Macron insisted the importance of the EU staying separate from the US.
He added that the ongoing conflict in Ukraine poses the biggest risk to the security in Europe in a two hour long speech accusing the Germans and others of cowardice.
Macron said that Europe should never become a 'vassal' of the US
Reuters
Macron said: "[Europe] must show that it is never a vassal of the United States and that it also knows how to talk to all the other regions of the world.
"There is no defence without a defence industry. We’ve had decades of under-investment. We must produce more, we must produce faster, and we must produce as Europeans.
"We must strengthen European action on immigration, terrorism, organised crime, drug trafficking, hate, and online crime...we must put an end to complicated Europe.
"There is a risk Europe could die...The principal danger for European security is the war in Ukraine, the sine qua non for our security is that Russia does not win this war of aggression."
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Macron said Russia must not win in Ukraine
Reuters
While he did not call for an EU army, he said the bloc should build a "credible defence" following the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
He said: "The European pillar of Nato that we are building is essential. But we should build a European defence framework...How can we build our sovereignty, our autonomy, if we don't assume the responsibility of developing our own European defence industry."
It comes after Rassemblement National, the party of hard-right wing Eurosceptic leader Marine Le Pen, has abandoned calls for a "Frexit" but wants to reinforce national sovereignty within the EU.
Macron said: "[Brexit was] an explosion whose negative effects, from what I can tell, have meant that today nobody dares to propose exits, neither from the Europe, nor from the euro."
Marine Le Pen of the National Rally (RN) party
Reuters
Macron added said the plans for the Rwanda Bill would prove "totally ineffective" and that using another country to handle asylum seekers created a "geopolitics of cynicism."
Rishi Sunak’s spokeswoman rejected the criticism and said: "We don’t agree. We think that our approach is the right one. In terms of breaking the business model of the criminal gangs, we’ll need a strong deterrent.
"We need to make clear that if you come here on a small boat you won’t be able to stay. That is how we will break that business model. And indeed, we’ve seen other partners and other countries around the world explore similar options."
