Macron walks with triumphs with Trump while making the case of Europe in Ukraine

Relationships between Europe and the United States are undoubtedly in crisis, so simply keeping things together as French president Emmanuel Macron did in the White House on Monday is an achievement.

He did it praising, flattering and gently cheating the president of the United States while taking questions at the Oval office and helding a joint press conference. This is a play book that many leaders around the world now see how more productive than talking absolutely or criticism of Trump.

Macron managed to navigate what could have been a complicated day in Washington without granting or revealing too much.

He spoke of both countries that wanted peace, and although he gently corrected one of Trump’s claims about Europe’s support to Ukraine, he also agreed that Europe should assume more responsibility for their own security.

But Macron made an important concession: that Trump was right to restore some kind of relationship with Vladimir Putin of Russia.

That is in marked contrast to the point of view so far in London, Paris and Berlin, who have followed a policy of isolating Putin and slapping the sanctions to Russian industries and individuals.

“There are good reasons for President Trump to participate again with President Putin,” Macron said, added that the new administration represented “a great change.”

Macron maintained the possibility that European countries such as France and the United Kingdom were willing to play a main role to guarantee the security of a Ukraine after thirty, possibly in the form of air power and troops parked in the first line.

But at the same time, he emphasized the importance of having an American support.

Macron, however, did not receive a commitment to support us from his meeting at the Oval office. And if I was looking for a criticism gun to Trump’s Russian president, then he didn’t understand it either.

What he did was, at least, to some extent, the voice of Europe at the table and he, along with other European leaders, will take some heart of that.

However, it is clear that ambitions to restore the type of close relationship that Europe and the United States have had since the end of World War II are not in anyone’s roadmap.

That is why Macron himself has been working on the idea of ​​a more autonomous Europe strategically for some time, playing with combined European defense forces ideas.

His sense that Europe needs to adapt given the dramatic change in the position of the United States is shared by Friedrich Merz, who will be the next German chancellor.

Merz has already said that he believes that the United States under Donald Trump is indifferent to the destination of Europeand that the continent must be independent of the US in terms of security.

“My absolute priority will be to strengthen Europe as quickly as possible so that, step by step, we can really achieve the independence of the United States,” said Merz.

But France, the United Kingdom and Germany must also be aware of the fact that not all European powers are so hostile to the opinion of the United States on Ukraine.

The emergence of extreme right -wing nationalist parties in Europe, especially in places like Germany where AFD was second in Sunday’s elections, suggests that many European citizens are also skeptical about the continuous support of the continent for kyiv.

Later this week, the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Sir Keir Starmer, who has been closely coordinating with his French counterpart, will come to Washington to reinforce his case in Ukraine.

He, like Macron, believes that his country has a special relationship with the US. That can open doors and obtain a fair audience.

The problem is that Donald Trump’s Washington is in transmission mode at this time, pushing an agenda that leaves little space for the opinion of others.

And although the United States has always had the ability to flex its muscles and get out of its own, Europe has not been at the receiving end. The fact that it has changed is a sign of how serious this breakdown has become in the established alliances.