The security of Europe depends on Macron

The Times quotes our French security report

“Brexit will leave the European Union with only one military heavyweight: France,” writes Edward Lucas in the Times on 12 May 2017.

“Its armed forces have advanced capabilities on land, sea and air (and in cyberspace), and a global reach. No other EU country comes close. In many parts of the world — the Pacific and north Africa, for example — France matters more than Britain does.

“Like ours, France’s armed forces are thinly stretched. As the Friends of Europe think tank notes in a new report, the “cheese-eating surrender monkeys” which Americans mocked for not taking part in the Iraq war in 2003 have turned into the “frogs of war”. France has in recent years conducted more expeditionary warfare than any other EU country, including Britain. In conflicts such as Libya and Syria, France is a more important American ally than battle-fatigued Britain.”