The international order is “jeopardized” by the larger global powers, the French president has said
US allies are no longer sure that Washington is a “reliable” partner, French President Emmanuel Macron has said.
Speaking during an informal summit in Athens on Friday alongside Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, Macron was asked whether Europe was “becoming a bit irrelevant” given the various conflicts around the globe, including the war against Iran.
“Everybody sees that the number one power, the US, could be an ally for certain countries, but this ally is not so much certain… and nobody is totally sure if this alliance is reliable,” the French president said, arguing that this makes the EU appear as a more stable alternative.
“We used to live in an international order, and this international order is jeopardized by the two big powers,” he added.
The growing divide between European NATO nations and Washington has worsened since the US and Israeli attacked Iran in late February, with US President Donald Trump repeatedly criticizing bloc members over their reluctance to join the war.
Tensions were already elevated due to Trump’s continued threats to annex Greenland from fellow NATO member Denmark. Differing visions for the future of the Ukraine conflict have further widened the transatlantic rift.
Since returning to the White House in 2025, Trump has launched a broad diplomatic initiative to end the hostilities and has insisted that European nations take on the full financial and military burden of supporting Kiev. However, the UK and the EU have consistently attempted to torpedo the peace talks by injecting proposals which Moscow has condemned as deliberately unacceptable.
Washington is trying to shift the burden of “containing Russia” onto its allies in Europe, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said last week. The broader Western goal is to “preserve and renew their hegemony,” but as their relative power on the international stage declines, internal frictions in the West are intensifying, he added.
