Paris, France – French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot declared on Wednesday, December 10, 2025, that the Trump administration’s newly released National Security Strategy (NSS) serves as a stark “moment of clarity” validating Paris’s decade-long advocacy for European strategic autonomy, urging the continent to redouble efforts to assert its independence amid Washington’s increasingly adversarial stance toward its allies. Addressing lawmakers in the National Assembly, Barrot framed the 33-page document—unveiled quietly by the White House on December 4—as a “striking demonstration” that France has been “right since 2017” in calling for Europe to reclaim control over its security, economy, and digital sovereignty, free from overreliance on the United States.
“The publication of this US national security strategy is, fundamentally, a moment of clarity and truth that urges us to stay the course and accelerate,” Barrot asserted. He reaffirmed that Europe has already begun “reshaping” itself—regaining “control of its borders” through fortified Schengen policies, equipping defenses against “unfair competition” via the EU’s Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism, and imposing regulatory “rules on tech giants” like TikTok, which complied with the bloc’s Digital Services Act, while X (formerly Twitter) resisted, prompting enforcement actions by the European Commission. “Whatever the outcries of the international reactionaries, we will not be intimidated. The same rules apply to everyone… And this is only the beginning,” Barrot added, drawing applause from centrist and left-leaning deputies who see the NSS as a wake-up call against transatlantic complacency.
Barrot’s remarks, delivered during a routine foreign policy hearing, underscore a pivotal moment in Franco-European diplomacy, coming just days after the NSS ignited a firestorm across the continent. The document, a cornerstone of President Donald Trump’s “America First” agenda, marks a seismic departure from prior strategies, prioritizing U.S. dominance in the Western Hemisphere over traditional European alliances. It dismisses Russia as an “existential threat” only in the eyes of “many Europeans,” advocating instead for “strategic stability” with Moscow—a euphemism for détente that alarms Kyiv and its backers. More provocatively, its Europe section—spanning nearly two pages—laments the continent’s “economic decline” as “eclipsed by the real and more stark prospect of civilizational erasure” within 20 years, blaming EU institutions for “undermining political liberty and sovereignty,” “censorship of free speech and suppression of political opposition,” “cratering birthrates,” and migration policies that risk rendering “certain NATO members majority non-European.”
The NSS’s rhetoric, echoing far-right conspiracy theories like the “great replacement,” explicitly endorses “cultivating resistance” within Europe by bolstering “patriotic” movements—code for nationalist, anti-immigration parties such as Germany’s Alternative for Germany (AfD), France’s National Rally, and Hungary’s Fidesz—that prioritize sovereignty over supranational integration. This aligns with Vice President JD Vance’s incendiary February address at the Munich Security Conference, where he declared Europe’s “gravest threat” was “from within”—not Russia or China—accusing leaders of eroding democratic norms through “firewalls” against far-right groups and citing migration as the root of “horrors.”
Barrot countered nationalist sirens in his speech, insisting that “true sovereignty can only be exercised at the European level,” as individual nations lack the clout to safeguard interests against global powers. “The peoples of Europe reject capitulation in wars of invasion just as in trade wars. They reject the idea of Europe becoming a subjugated and aging continent. They want Europe to become a democratic power that lets no one decide on its behalf,” he proclaimed, invoking the EU’s recent triumphs: a €750 billion NextGenerationEU recovery fund that propelled 4% GDP growth in 2025, the bloc’s imposition of 50% tariffs on Chinese EVs to counter dumping, and the Digital Markets Act’s €10 billion in fines on Big Tech for antitrust violations.
His intervention aligns with President Emmanuel Macron’s longstanding vision, articulated in his 2017 Sorbonne speech, where he decried transatlantic “brain death” and called for an autonomous Europe capable of “strategic vigilance.” Macron, who has since the NSS’s release doubled down, convening an emergency EU summit on December 7 to “reassert strategic autonomy” against “Washington’s cultural meddling,” pledged €50 billion more in defense spending via the European Defence Fund, aiming for a 3% GDP NATO target by 2030.
The NSS has provoked a chorus of European outrage, amplifying Barrot’s clarion call. European Council President António Costa decried it as an “unacceptable threat of interference,” demanding “respect” for sovereign leaders. Germany’s Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul labeled the “civilizational erasure” trope “patronizing,” affirming Berlin’s firewall against AfD as a democratic safeguard. Sweden’s former Prime Minister Carl Bildt likened the language to “Kremlin propaganda,” placing Trump “to the right of the extreme right.” Italy’s Giorgia Meloni, a Trump ally despite her far-right roots, offered tepid support for “patriotic” reforms but warned against fracturing NATO unity.
Analysts view the NSS as a deliberate provocation to accelerate Europe’s pivot. The strategy’s Western Hemisphere focus—envisioning a “Golden Dome” missile shield and economic decoupling from China—signals a U.S. retreat from Europe, where troop drawdowns loom unless NATO spending surges. Russia, treated with “measured” language, stands to gain: Moscow hailed the document as a “clear signal” for Eurasian stability.
For France, Barrot’s speech signals resolve: Paris will lead a “Coalition of the Willing” for EU battlegroups in the Sahel and Indo-Pacific, bypassing U.S. hesitancy. As winter bites and Ukraine’s frontlines hold tenuously, Barrot’s words resonate: Europe’s autonomy isn’t defiance—it’s survival. “We reject subjugation,” he concluded. “Europe decides for Europe.” With the NSS’s barbs lingering, the bloc’s leaders must now forge that path, lest the “erasure” prophecy self-fulfills.
