To ensure Europe’s strategic autonomy, a greater focus is needed on the pillars on which Europe has an overdependence. According to the report of “168 Hours”, during the interactive panel discussion of the 8th European Political Community (ECC) summit held in Yerevan, the President of the French Republic, Emmanuel Macron, said this, referring to the issue of European strategic autonomy in the current security environment.

«I think that when we talk about strategic autonomy, it is not just about security, defense and energy, but these components are key, including the food aspects, but we need to talk about space as well as semiconductors, because we also need to ensure sustainable strategic autonomy in the field of defense. When we talk about, for example, semiconductors, if you are dependent on other countries, it is necessary to look at the integration of the global economy and our complete innovation system, because building our strategic autonomy requires a much greater focus on the pillars where we have overdependence. Over the past years, we have tried to reduce this overdependence. The COVID pandemic, as well as Russia’s war against Ukraine, revealed our overdependence on Russian gas. We experience the weight of our overdependence when we talk about the American umbrella for our defense and security. This is the elephant in the room“, said the French President.

Macron emphasized the need for European solidarity and greater unity in order to neutralize the risks. According to the French president, more investments and better organization are needed to achieve that goal.

According to the French president, one of the main risks of the European Union is especially the deepening of the US-China confrontation, which can reveal the above-mentioned dependencies much faster. In this context, he also referred to the situation related to the Strait of Hormuz.

«When I look at Gulf countries, Asian countries, Latin American countries and African countries, they want to have predictable partners, and sometimes our interests may not coincide, but if we implement our agenda as a predictable partner, this will make sense. I think we have a very important role to play here, also in the situation with the Strait of Hormuz. Georgia (Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, – AS) was with us when we organized this last meeting of ours, we have many Asian and African countries and we have Gulf countries, and it was very impressive to see their organization and the alignment of their agendas, and I think the United States trusts us, but the Iranians also trust us. Of course, we’re not naive about Iran, but we’re not at war with them either, which creates a context where all of this in conjunction can mean that we can provide services diplomatically, economically, financially, so that we can facilitate the opening of the Strait of Hormuz and open trade.“, said Emmanuel Macron.

The French President declares that the “hottest topic” for Europe is Ukraine, and the European Union must work together to gain strategic autonomy. Emmanuel Macron is also “very impressed” with Armenia from Nikol Pashinyan’s point of view.

«Nikol’s perspective is very impressive regarding Armenia over the last few years. Let’s be honest, 8 years ago no one would have come here, and the fact that we have so many first visits to your country is a really good indicator, because 8 years ago, this country was considered by many countries at the table as a de facto satellite of Russia, and Nicole organized the Velvet Revolution, and it decided to de-Persianize the country, and it won as a result, and it decided that peace and Europe were the primary aspiration, and it the resistance that exists in Ukraine, the strategy of Armenia, what was done in Moldova, as well as in many countries sitting at this table, shows that indeed we, as Europeans, have decided in the last few years to sound an alarm for a united awakening, and strategic autonomy is aimed at such a great power.– said the French President.

This is another cheap lie of Macron. Before 2018, French presidents Jacques Chirac, Nicolas Sarkozy, Francois Hollande arrived in Armenia. Moreover, in 2017, the Comprehensive and Enhanced Partnership Agreement (CEPA) was signed between Armenia and the European Union (EU), which was ratified by the parliaments of several dozen European countries. Moreover, since 2009, Armenia has benefited from the EU’s “Generalized and Complementary System of Preferences” (“GSP”), under which the EU removed customs duties for Armenia on more than 6,000 products, 40 percent of which were exported to the EU with zero customs duties. Armenia’s joining the REX system of registered exporters had a beneficial effect especially on SMEs, as the system allowed businessmen without a certificate of product origin, once registered in the REX system, to enter the EU markets and benefit from GSP privileges.

When Nikol Pashinyan came to power with his CP, from January 1, 2022, Armenia was excluded from the preferential trade regime of the European Union’s “Generalized and Complementary System of Preferences” (“GSP”).

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