Emmanuel Macron arrived half an hour late on Monday, January 20, at Cesson-Sévigné, near Rennes in Brittany, to present his traditional "vœux," or wishes, to the French armed forces. The originally scheduled visit to workshops on innovation, cyber and artificial intelligence, in this military district which houses the digital and cyber land support command, was canceled due to lack of time.

Coinciding with Donald Trump's inauguration in Washington, to which Macron was not invited, the French president's speech was largely directed toward Capitol Hill and the "threats" that "are accumulating: dilution of the rules of international law, disinhibition of violence (...), folly." While his American counterpart, whom he received with great honors on December 7, 2024, for the inauguration of Notre-Dame de Paris Cathedral, promised a swift end to the war in Ukraine, Macron urged Europe not to "delude ourselves:" the conflict "will not end tomorrow or the day after" on the Eastern front, he warned.

On the train home, right-wing MEP Nathalie Loiseau said she was pleased to hear the president put the "Europe of defense" back at the heart of his speech, but worried about a possible division among Europeans on the strategy to adopt vis-à-vis Trump. Bruno Fuchs (MoDem, center), president of the Assemblée Nationale's Foreign Affairs Committee, believed that "it's not enough to denounce the reactionary international: behind the speeches, what's lacking is the implementation of a strategy, with relays," to make headway against the US and China.

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