French President Emmanuel Macron gestures as he speaks during The Paris Peace Forum at The Elysee Palace in Paris on November 12, 2020. (LUDOVIC MARIN / POOL / AFP)

French President Emmanuel Macron said the European Union must push on with its efforts to develop the capacity to act independently in technology, international finance and defense, even after Democrat Joe Biden takes over in the US.

In an interview with Le Grand Continent, a Paris-based policy journal, Macron said that EU leaders mustn’t let the defeat of Donald Trump persuade them that they can return to relying on the US to underwrite European security and to defend the bloc’s interests.

In an interview with Le Grand Continent, a Paris-based policy journal, French President Emmanuel Macron said that EU leaders mustn’t let the defeat of Donald Trump persuade them that they can return to relying on the US to underwrite European security and to defend the bloc’s interests

“The United States will only respect us as allies if we are earnest, and if we are sovereign with respect to our defense,” Macron said. “We need to continue to build our independence for ourselves.”

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As examples of EU vulnerabilities, Macron pointed to recent developments in cloud computing services that could leave European data subject to US law and the tensions over the Iran nuclear accord, in which the Trump administration had leverage over the Europeans because of the dollar’s status as a global reserve currency.

‘An Illusion’

He also attacked German Defense Minister Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer who earlier this month that it’s an “illusion” to think the EU can replace the US’s role in upholding security on the continent.

“That it is a historical misinterpretation,” he said. “Fortunately, if I understood things correctly, the chancellor does not share this point of view” -- a reference to German leader Angela Merkel.

The long interview comes as Macron is confronted with the resurgence of COVID-19 in France, which he’s put under a strict lockdown, as well as a string of jihadist attacks to which he responded with a pledge to protect the country’s Republican values.

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Macron has been criticized by some Muslim leaders for stigmatizing Muslims, and he doubled down on his position while reiterating that he has nothing against Islam.

“We are a free country, where no religion is threatened, where no religion is unwelcome. I want all citizens to be able to practice their faith as they wish,” he said.

‘Not multiculturalists’

However, he warned, “we are not multiculturalists, we do not stack the ways of representing the world one after the other, but we try to build one together, irrespective of personal and spiritual beliefs.”

Macron also spoke about the roll-out of a COVID-19 vaccine as another test for the EU. “There is going to be ‘vaccine diplomacy,’ that is to say that everyone is going to want to wave their flag and say: I found it.”

“I am not sure that all the countries want to come on board” to make the vaccine a public good, he said.

On trade, Macron warned that European countries must push for their agenda on climate change, or risk provoking a backlash against new commercial accords.

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It would be “crazy” to “ask for sacrifices and all the while continue to build trade agreements with countries around the world that do not make the same efforts – and the question will arise, you will see, with the new American administration,” Macron said. The project of an extensive EU-US trade agreement has been blocked for years due to the opposition of public opinion.

Macron is due to meet US Secretary of State Michael Pompeo on Monday though they aren’t due to make any public statements.