NNA - French President Emmanuel Macron laid out his vision of how Europe should tackle security and economic challenges over the next five years and ahead of a hotly contested European election in June.

"We are at a tipping point and Europe could die," Mr Macron told an audience of politicians, ambassadors, government officials, students and think tank members. "It is up to us to make the right choices."

Mr Macron was speaking at the Sorbonne University in Paris in an attempt to garner similar enthusiasm to a landmark speech delivered in 2017. It was widely viewed as visionary due to its call for a common European defence, five years before Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

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"We have before us a crucial issue of rhythm and model," said Mr Macron. "The era when Europe bought its energy and fertilisers from Russia, produced in China, and delegated its security to the US, is over.

"The rules of the game have changed," said Mr Macron, "and Europe must respond with power, prosperity and humanism."

He pointed at the war in Ukraine as the number one threat to Europe's security. "The fact that has returned to European soil due to a nuclear power changes everything. The fact that Iran is about to obtain the nuclear weapon changes everything," he said.

Mr Macron accused China and the US of not respecting international trading rules and called on Europe to rethink its economic model. "The risk is that Europe falls behind," he said, arguing that Europe must invest more in its own defence and green technology. He backed the idea of a European loan to finance military purchases.

The French leader decried attacks against liberal European democracies as French security services have become increasingly vocal about their fears of Russian cyberattacks during the upcoming election. "Our Europe is more and more challenges in its ability to be attractive as a political model," he said.

Mr Macron's speech is also an attempt to defend his European legacy ahead of the June election as his political party struggles in the polls, which show the far-right Eurosceptic Rassemblement National coming first, with more than 30 per cent of the vote.

Valerie Hayer, an MEP with no government experience, backed by Mr Macron, is projected to obtain 17.5 per cent of the vote, while her centre-left colleague at the European Parliament Raphael Glucksmann is at 12.5 per cent.

There are fears that Ms Hayer could come third in the election, which would further weaken Mr Macron's position after a series of unpopular reforms.

Mr Macron's highly anticipated speech was simultaneously translated into English and German. The choice of the Sorbonne University is symbolic, said one of his advisers, who described it as a "place of an intuition" and "a place of results".

The adviser, however, denied reports that Mr Macron's speech was aimed at reinvigorating his allies' political campaign ahead of the election.

The adviser pointed instead at the fact that Mr Macron's speech comes ahead of a meeting next month of the EU's 27 leaders, during which they will adopt the bloc's strategic agenda for the next five years.

Mr Macron hopes to "guide and influence this next agenda strategic of the European Union," the adviser said.

The French President "wants to reclaim the initiative, avoid humiliation and try to keep the number-two spot at any cost," political scientist Bruno Cautres told AFP ahead of the speech, noting that there was little hope his party could overtake the RN.

Political opponents criticised Mr Macron in the days leading up to his intervention, with French far-left MEP Manon Aubry highlighting the lack of results of the president's industrial policy. "The last two French photovoltaic panel factories are being closed," Ms Aubry told French daily Le Monde.

RN figurehead Marine Le Pen said that, should Mr Macron face "an electoral defeat," she would call for Parliament to be dissolved and a new election.

"This speech, whose content I can anticipate... will also mobilise our voters," Ms Le Pen said this week.--Agencies

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