Macron says Europe facing ‘profound geopolitical rapture’ amid changes in world order – Europe live

“It is time for Europe to wake up … If we do not decide for ourselves, we will be swept away,” the French president saidThe French president, Emmanuel Macron, has urged Europe to reassert its position in the world, as the continent faces rapidally changing landscape in politics and trade.In an interview with a group of European media outlets, Macron warned that the strategy of bowing down to the US and other geopolitical powers doesn’t work and urged Europe to urgently step up its integration to get ready to face “permanent instability” ahead.“We have European interests to defend and I’m not going to delegate them to anyone, not even the US.”Ukraine and France have agreed to start joint weapons production, the Ukrainian defence minister said on Monday after hosting his French counterpart in Kyiv.Ukraine is opening up exports of its domestically produced weapons, president Volodymyr Zelenskyy said – a way for Kyiv to cash in on its wartime technological advances to generate badly needed funds.Russian attacks damaged production sites of Ukraine’s state-run oil and gas company Naftogaz in the Poltava and Sumy regions, the company’s CEO said on Monday.The EU has proposed extending its sanctions against Russia to include ports in Georgia and Indonesia that handle Russian oil, the first time it would target ports in third countries, a proposal document showed. Continue reading...