Macron was right about strategic autonomy
But France lacks the means to pay for much of it
On a chilly June day off the coast of Greenland, Emmanuel Macron, France’s president, and Mette Frederiksen, Denmark’s prime minister, boarded a Danish warship in a show of defiant solidarity. It was a cheeky piece of diplomacy. Mr Macron’s “hands off” message was partly directed at America’s Donald Trump, who has threatened to annex the Danish territory. “Greenland is not to be sold, not to be taken,” Mr Macron declared. But the French president’s message was also intended for Europeans: they need to stick together, stand up for themselves and stop clinging to dependence on America.
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This article appeared in the Europe section of the print edition under the headline “Of pensions and bombs”
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