PARIS: French President Emmanuel Macron will Sunday put European military cooperation at the heart of the Bastille Day parade at a time of growing tensions with the United States.
Key EU leaders, including German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte, are to join Macron to watch the annual parade down the Champs Elysees that marks the July 14, 1789 storming of the Bastille fortress in Paris in the French Revolution.
Outgoing British Prime Minister Theresa May had been expected to attend but Britain will instead be represented by senior cabinet minister David Lidington, the Elysee said.
Over 4,000 members of the armed forces thronged the start of the parade on the Champs Elysees by the Arc de Triomphe as they prepared for the ceremonial march to the Place de la Concorde where the dignitaries were to be seated.
Closer European defense cooperation has been one of Macron’s key foreign policy aims and the president shows no sign of wavering despite growing political turbulence in Germany and Britain’s looming exit from the European Union.
At the 2017 parade, Macron’s guest of honor was the freshly-inaugurated US President Donald Trump as the young French leader sought to take the initiative in forming a bond with his counterpart.
Trump was so taken by the event that he ordered a similar military parade in Washington for the July 4 Independence Day celebrations.
But since then ties between Trump and Macron have soured over the US pullout from the Paris climate accord and the Iran nuclear deal, as well as France’s new law for a tax on digital giants.
Macron, who pushed the idea of the European Intervention Initiative (E2I) to undertake missions outside of existing structures like NATO, says European defense cooperation is crucial.
“Never, since the end of World War II has Europe been so important,” Macron said in a statement to mark July 14.
“The construction of a Europe of defense, in connection with the Atlantic alliance whose 70th anniversary we are celebrating, is a priority for France,” he added.
He said the aim of the E2I was to “act together and reinforce our capacity to act together,” adding: “Our security and our defense pass through Europe.”
Forces from all nine countries taking part alongside France in the E2I — including Britain and Germany — will be represented at the parade.
In a sign of France’s ambition to be a leading modern military power under Macron, the president Saturday announced the creation of a national space force command that will eventually be part of the air force.
“We will reinforce our knowledge of the situation in space, we will better protect our satellites, including in an active manner,” Macron said as he announced the plan, which mirrors a US initiative championed by Trump.
Highligthing France’s continued commitment to NATO, the alliance’s secretary general Jens Stoltenberg will also be present at the parade.
A German A400M transport plane and a Spanish C130 will take part in fly-bys at the parade, as well as two British Chinook helicopters.
The Chinooks are a major symbol of British-French defense cooperation even as Brexit looms, with Britain deploying three of the aircraft and 100 personnel for France’s operation in the African Sahel region.
Also present will be members of the 5,000-strong Franco-German Brigade (BFA), which was created in 1989 as a symbol of postwar unity between France and Germany, and celebrates its 30th anniversary this year.
Merkel, who is battling to keep her grand coalition together at home, will again be under close scrutiny after she suffered three episodes of shaking at official events in recent weeks.
Some 4,300 members of the armed forces, 196 vehicles, 237 horses, 69 planes and 39 helicopters will be mobilized for the event in the heart of the French capital.
Macron to show off Euro defense cooperation at Paris parade
Macron to show off Euro defense cooperation at Paris parade
- Closer European defense cooperation has been one of Macron’s key foreign policy aims
- The president shows no sign of wavering despite growing political turbulence in Germany and Britain’s looming exit from the European Union
‘Our work will go on’: UN vows to continue as Trump withdraws from dozens of international bodies
- US president ends participation and funding for 31 UN and 35 other organizations he says operate contrary to American interests, security, prosperity or sovereignty
- Budget contributions ‘are treaty obligations,’ says UN spokesperson. ‘Member states who signed on have to pay the dues. The UN Charter is not a la carte’
NEW YORK CITY: The UN said on Thursday that its work will continue despite an announcement by the US late on Wednesday that it was withdrawing from 66 international organizations, including 31 UN entities.
“Our work will continue,” UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said at the UN headquarters in New York.
“The secretary-general respects the sovereignty of each of the members of this organization, and he also strongly believes that the challenges that we face today can only be solved through international cooperation. That’s been his view since he started on day one. It continues to be his view.”
US President Donald Trump on Wednesday directed federal agencies to halt participation in, and funding for, 31 UN institutions and 35 other international organizations that, in the view of his administration, operate contrary to national interests, security, economic prosperity or sovereignty of the US.
Notable UN programs affected include the Framework Convention on Climate Change, and the Children and Armed Conflict program, which works to protect children in war zones.
In a statement, Secretary-General Antonio Guterres expressed his regret over the US decision, and pointed out that contributions to the UN’s regular and peacekeeping budgets remain legal obligations under the UN Charter.
“All United Nations entities will go on with the implementation of their mandates as given by member states,” Guterres said.
“The United Nations has a responsibility to deliver for those who depend on us. We will continue to carry out our mandates with determination.”
Asked whether the US would still be required to pay its assessed contributions despite withdrawing from the UN programs, spokesperson Dujarric said obligations under the UN Charter were clear.
“Contributions to the budget, the regular budget and the peacekeeping budget, are treaty obligations — the operative word being obligations,” he said.
“Member states who signed on have to pay the dues. The UN Charter is not a la carte. The UN itself is not a la carte. It’s an organization of 193 member states and two observer states. It is in the interest of all these member states to defend the principles that they themselves have created.”
Dujarric stressed that the UN was prepared to handle the financial and operational challenges posed by the US withdrawals.
“We’ve been managing under this financial pressure for some time,” he said. “It’s very complicated. Our comptroller doesn’t sleep at all as he tries to keep the lights on in this building.”
The UN will continue its work on climate change, protecting children from violence, and the promotion of gender equality, he added.
The Trump administration framed the withdrawals as a restoration of American sovereignty and the end of spending taxpayer dollars on what it termed ineffective or ideologically driven global programs.
Trump previously withdrew the US from the World Health Organization, the Paris Climate Agreement, and the UN Human Rights Council. The White House said such moves would allow US authorities to refocus resources on domestic priorities, including infrastructure, military readiness, border security and the protection of American businesses abroad.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio described the organizations affected by the withdrawals as “redundant in their scope, mismanaged, unnecessary, wasteful, poorly run, captured by the interests of actors advancing their own agendas contrary to our own, or a threat to our nation’s sovereignty, freedoms and general prosperity.”
The administration would continue to review other international organizations for possible withdrawal under Executive Order 14199, he added.
Dujarric, asked whether the secretary-general was surprised by the scale of the US withdrawals, said: “In terms of what’s going on in the world today he’s beyond the term ‘surprise’… He continues, with calm and determination, to (do) his work and defend the Charter and this international institution.”
