Montpellier (AFP)
Emmanuel Macron announced Tuesday, before the Assises de la Mer in Montpellier, the order of six new patrol boats to oversee its overseas maritime spaces and forcefully claimed the "maritime leadership" in Europe, just before the summit of the Nato.
"I have decided, and it is enshrined in the law of military programming, to further strengthen the protection of our maritime areas.The order of six new patrollers overseas was officially passed last week by the Minister of Armies" he announced.
"We are building an unparalleled capacity, never before acquired on the maritime front, to protect our spaces and assume this role as a balanced maritime power," he said.
Thanks to its ultramarine maritime facades, "France is the second world maritime power" and "the first maritime power of Europe", he added. Hence his decision to "renew the naval capabilities of our armies" to "fill the unacceptable capacity holes".
"We are building a European maritime capability," he said, "I assume France has taken the lead."
"It may be scary to some, it probably upset others but it's underway," he added, shortly before flying to a summit of NATO in London placed under high voltage.
He cited the protection of the Strait of Hormuz, for which he explained that he had "requested that a frigate be permanently to monitor our ships and organized a European presence, otherwise our trade flows and our business model would be deeply disrupted ".
He was speaking in front of the Assises de la Mer, a major annual meeting of French professionals in the maritime sectors in Montpellier, placed under surveillance, with a large police deployment throughout the city.
© 2019 AFP