Jakub KrupaThu 15 Jan 2026 16.31 GMTShare
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France’s Macron stresses urgency of rearmament, defence security investment
French President Emmanuel Macron is now speaking in Istres, outlining the defence and security challenges facing the French and European armies.
In his annual speech to the army, he particularly focuses on the need for France and Europe to continue stepping up its defence capabilities and on-going on securing its sovereignty.
The French president speaks about the work on rearmament over the past decade, saying it is starting to “bear fruit,” as he stresses that the changing nature of the world order requires more work in this area.
“To remain free, one must be feared. To be feared, one must be powerful. And to be powerful in this brutal world, one must act faster and stronger,” he says.
But Macron also recognises that France is behind Ukraine on some technologies, as drones, recognising the pace of innovation in the area.
In one particularly worth noting passage, he discusses the importance of the The European Long-range Strike Approach, or ELSA, coalition to develop European deep-strike capabilities, which he says is increasingly urgent given Russia’s recent use of the Oreshnik missile in Ukraine.
“This launch is a very clear signal from a power that already has such capabilities, and decided to acquire even more, and a message that is clear to all those who think Russia is not our concern,” he says.
He stresses that France is “within the range of these missiles,” and so Europeans need to “seize the opportunity” to work on new weapons, particularly with German and UK partners.
He says Europeans need to accelerate their production and deployment capacity to reduce external dependencies.
He also says there are clear signs of France and partners stepping up, pointing to the pace at which the Coalition of the Willing – under a Franco-British command – was able to discuss and offer significant security guarantees to Ukraine in case of a peace deal with Russia.
But more broadly, he strikes a cautious tone as he warns against the rise of destabilising powers, including Russia and Iran, and the emergence of “a rhetoric that sometimes sows doubt, including among allies,” and what he calls a “new colonialism”.
Reference Link:- https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2026/jan/15/european-nations-troops-greenland-trump-europe-live?page=with%3Ablock-6968c73e8f0876b1bcdd3b7e