Europe needs to boost investment in strategic sectors or risk being “swept aside” by competition from the U.S. and China, French President Emmanuel Macron said in an interview he gave on Tuesday, February 10th.
The French leader warned that U.S. “threats” and “intimidation” were not over and urged against complacency in a discussion with several European publications.
Ahead of this week’s EU summit on competitiveness, Macron advocated for “simplifying and deepening the EU’s single market” and “diversifying” trade partnerships.
He estimated that the European Union needs approximately €1.2 trillion ($1.4 trillion) in annual public and private investment, focusing on green and digital technologies, defense, and security. Moreover, he renewed his call for common European debt–an idea France has championed for years, but which other member states have repeatedly rejected. He suggested
Now is the time to launch a common borrowing capacity for these future expenditures: future-oriented Eurobonds.
