Macron, a “naive”, an “irresponsible”, “has he lost his mind”? It is rare for the French president to be criticized with such virulence in Germany. In Berlin, several politicians, and not the least, reacted to Emmanuel Macron’s remarks at the end of his trip to China with a volley of green wood. If on the side of the chancellery, we were careful not to comment, in the central offices of the various political parties, the experts in international relations did not hesitate to put the French president in his place.
For Metin Hakverdi, in charge of European affairs within the Social Democratic Party, Macron spoke in Beijing without having previously consulted his partners in the European Union. His words differed significantly from those of European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, who was on the trip with him.
“It is a serious mistake for the West to allow itself to be divided in its relations with Beijing”, criticizes Metin Hakverdi to Emmanuel Macron. What remains of this trip is a striking image: Chinese President Xi Jinping chatting without a tie with Emmanuel Macron, while Ursula von der Leyen seems to have disappeared from circulation. “EU relegated to junior partner. »
But the harshest attack came from Norbert Röttgen, a Christian Democrat, a former minister who had run for the leadership of the party. This foreign policy specialist is very influential. Outraged by Macron’s remarks, Norbert Röttgen immediately denounced on Twitter: “Macron managed to make his trip to China a communication operation for Chinese President Xi Jinping and a foreign policy disaster for Europe. »
Several editorialists, of all political tendencies, recall that, without the United States, the defense of Ukraine after the Russian attack in February 2022 could not have been ensured. It is very commendable to talk about European sovereignty, as Emmanuel Macron has done since he came to power in 2017, but you still have to have the means to match your ambitions.
But the reality is quite different. And the war in Ukraine is clear proof of this. Without the intervention of the United States, kyiv would have been in Russian hands for a long time. “The French contribution to the defense of Ukraine is modest to say the least, even less than that of Germany”, recalls Norbert Röttgen with a touch of condescension.
“Macron had already announced the “brain death of NATO”, underlines a particularly caustic columnist of the weekly center-left Der Spiegel. This was before the war in Ukraine and it was a colossal mistake. Now France is linking up with China. And it is Macron who seems to be the victim of “brain death”. Without scruple, without any strategy and without regard for its allies. »
Der Spiegel accuses Macron of “allowing himself to be bewitched by the Chinese”, of being “a puppet of Chinese propaganda”. As for the Bild Zeitung, the flagship title of the tabloid press, it suspects the French president of protecting his country’s economic interests above all. A delegation of fifty business leaders accompanied him. We are far from the admiration of the beginnings, when Germany welcomed the young French president as the messiah.