France’s Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire has called for Europe to become an “empire” to compete with the United States after the country’s President Emmanuel Macron called for an EU army to defend against the NATO ally.
“It’s about Europe having to become a kind of empire, as China is. And how the U.S. is,” Mr Le Maire told Germany’s Handelsblatt.
Adding that it would be a “peaceful empire,” the economics and finance minister touted the progressive government’s green credentials, saying that the European empire should “rel[y] on green growth. Neither China nor the U.S., who are leaving the Paris Agreement on Climate Change, are on this path.”
Quizzed by the journalist on his reference to “empire,” Mr Le Maire said: “Do not get me wrong, I’m talking about a peaceful empire that’s a constitutional state.
“I use the term to raise awareness that in the world of tomorrow, it will be about power. Power will make the difference: technological power, economic, financial, monetary, cultural power will be crucial.