Athens (AFP) – Emmanuel Macron advocated Friday evening in Athens for a European “surge” in the face of a “unique moment” with “an American president, a Russian president and a Chinese president” who, according to him, are “fiercely opposed to the Europeans”.

Published on: 04/24/2026 - 6:49 p.m. Modified on: 04/24/2026 - 8:32 p.m.

The French head of state arrived in Greece for a two-day visit intended to further strengthen the defense partnership with this key naval ally at a time when freedom of navigation is hampered in the Gulf.

Is the loop complete? He who delivered his first major speech on European sovereignty, his hobby horse, from Pnyx Hill opposite the Acropolis in September 2017, debated the same subject with Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis in another emblematic site of the Athenian historic center, the Roman Agora.

And its relevance, in the face of the multiple crises that the European Union has faced in nine years, from Covid to the upheavals imposed by Donald Trump, including the wars in Ukraine and the Middle East.

“We must not underestimate that this is a unique moment where an American president, a Russian president and a Chinese president are fiercely opposed to the Europeans,” launched Emmanuel Macron. “It’s the right time for a start on our part,” he said.

If he seemed to put Donald Trump, Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping in the same category of opponents of the Old Continent, he also stressed that the President of the United States was always an "ally", even if he was not always "reliable" or "predictable".

"Reliable"

“This moment could be the European moment,” insisted the French head of state, reaffirming, as he has done since the beginning of the year, that the European Union is, by contrast, “reliable” and “predictable”, even if it must now “become a real geopolitical power”.

At his side, Kyriakos Mitsotakis emphasized the “commitment” of EU countries to support each other militarily “in the event of a possible threat” provided for by the Treaty of the European Union.

“It is a political message: we are not only relying on NATO but there is also a strong European dimension,” he underlined, referring to Cyprus where, at the beginning of March, European warships, in particular the French Languedoc and Greek Kimon frigates, were deployed when a British base located on its territory was hit by a strike at the start of the war in the Middle East.

On Saturday, French and Greek leaders are expected to address this conflict and the dual Iranian and American blockade of the Strait of Hormuz which is weakening the global economy.

Greece, which has one of the largest merchant navies in the world, hosts the headquarters of the European naval operation Aspides in the Red Sea.

Emmanuel Macron says he is partly inspired by this in the preparations for a future multinational mission to secure the Strait of Hormuz which would be carried out by "non-belligerent" countries when calm has returned.

France and Greece will ratify the extension of the strategic partnership on defense and security concluded in 2021, which will now be tacitly renewed.

As part of this cooperation, Greece, wishing to strengthen its army, ordered 24 Rafale combat planes from France and then three Belharra frigates for a total amount of more than 5.5 billion euros.

A fourth frigate was added last year.

The French President and the Greek Prime Minister will visit the first of these livery frigates, Kimon, on Saturday morning.

Greece, which often mentions its tensions with its big neighbor Turkey to explain the purchase of arms, is currently one of the four countries of the Atlantic Alliance which devote more than 3% of their GDP to defense spending, behind Poland, Estonia and Latvia.

Kyriakos Mitsotakis and Emmanuel Macron will also sign a new “global strategic partnership”, to deepen cooperation in the economy or innovation.

© 2026 AFP

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