"PARIS -- Russia's military buildup is rekindling tensions about whether Europe should take a bigger role in its own defense aside from the trans-Atlantic alliance with the U.S. that has underpinned the region's security in the postwar era.
The divisions surfaced Wednesday as French President Emmanuel Macron marked his turn at the helm of the European Union's presidency with a sweeping speech calling on Europe to chart its own course.
"The security of our continent demands a strategic rearmament of Europe as a power of peace and equilibrium, particularly when it comes to dialogue with Russia," he told a session of the European Parliament.
The EU, he said, should spend the coming weeks developing a plan to create "a new order of security and stability," while consulting with the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. "We must build it between Europeans, then share it with our allies within the framework of NATO. And then offer it for negotiation to Russia," he said.
His remarks unsettled officials in the bloc's Eastern nations, who fear the effort could weaken the U.S.-backed security umbrella provided by NATO.
Mr. Macron has been pushing the EU for years to develop its own capability on defense. Such plans, however, have been greeted with little enthusiasm by Germany and other major European economies, which have been happy to let the U.S. take the lead in deterring Russian aggression on the bloc's eastern flank." [1]
1. World News: Macron Wants EU To Craft Security Proposal
Dalton, Matthew; Norman, Laurence; Hinshaw, Drew. Wall Street Journal, Eastern edition; New York, N.Y. [New York, N.Y]. 20 Jan 2022: A.8.
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