Europe can no longer tolerate dependence on US: French foreign minister

“We can no longer tolerate being dependent on the United States, South Korea, or other countries for our military supplies and weaponry,” Jean-Noel Barrot told French broadcaster BFMTV.

He added that Europe should not have its political and international policy decisions “conditioned by excessive dependence, by subjugation to other countries.”

Barrot argued that relying on the US has not yielded ideal results.

“As we lived under the American shield, the threat crept closer to us,” he added.

The top diplomat reaffirmed that the US remains an ally to France, even as its stance on the Ukraine war appears to have shifted.

“They seem to be working toward peace. We’re not going to discourage them — that’s actually good news. But as we have been saying for weeks and months, peace must be a just and lasting one that definitively deters the threat,” he said.

Barrot warned that the war has extended beyond the battlefield, spilling into disinformation campaigns, cyberattacks, sabotage, and assassinations abroad over the past three years.

“If we remain blind to this transformation of the threat, then yes, sooner or later, we will be drawn into war,” he said.

He added that the international order is undergoing a “historic and serious moment.”

“The UN is threatened by the resurgence of empires that believe borders no longer exist and that they can violate their neighbors’ integrity with impunity,” Barrot said, stressing the need to be free to defend a vision of the world based on "justice and law.”