French President Emmanuel Macron addressed the nation on Wednesday amid uncertainty over the transatlantic partnership after the US paused military support to Ukraine. He announced plans to hold a meeting of all European army chiefs in Paris next week, insisting on the need for independent military defence. We need to come up with a longterm peace plan,” says Macron in a primetime speech. “Europe needs to be able to better defend itself. We need to arm ourselves more.”When President Emmanuel Macron first announced that France had shifted to a “wartime economy”, just months into Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, his martial rhetoric elicited widespread scepticism. French President Emmanuel Macron addressed the nation on Wednesday amid uncertainty over the transatlantic partnership after the US paused military support to Ukraine. He announced plans to hold a meeting of all European army chiefs in Paris next week, insisting on the need for independent military defence.Nerves have grown increasingly frayed across Europe since Trump and Zelensky’s showdown at the White House last week, and the rhetoric around Thursday’s summit leaves no doubt about the importance EU officials are ascribing to it.

Three years on since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the Trump administration’s overtures to Russian President Vladimir Putin have left many in Europe concerned the continent would not be able to rely on US support for its security.