I am very happy to open this conference on the future of Europe on Ifri's 40th anniversary. First, I would like to thank and pay tribute to Thierry de Montbrial who founded Ifri in 1979. You have created, Thierry de Montbrial, one of the most influential international think tanks in Europe and perhaps the world. Above all, French power is asserted through our ideas. And our ideas in the international sphere can be upheld when we are able to establish institutions like Ifri. For 40 years, you have been providing reason, information and analysis on these foreign and diplomatic topics that are so important. We are all proud of Ifri and I wanted to tell you.

Let us go back to the world situation 40 years ago, in the spring of 1979, because it is interesting to see where we are coming from and where we have succeeded.

Forty years of changes

Forty years ago, we were in the midst of the Cold War, and the United States was an unfailing ally of Europeans. China was a distant country impoverished by 30 years of Maoism, although there were still some fanatical Maoists at the Sorbonne to defend this record. China had just begun to open up its economy. As for Europe, it had its future ahead of it. It continued to expand, consolidate and become richer. Things were simple and they seemed like a given forevermore. In 1989, this feeling of power and stability was increased by the fall of the Berlin Wall. We thought that, once and for all, the model of liberal democracy had prevailed in the world and that the coming years and decades would be decades of peace and democracy. Instead, we have had wars and rising authoritarianism. Optimism has changed sides.

Nowadays, we are seeing a China that is constantly asserting its power, at breathtaking speed. I am not forgetting the President of the People's Republic of China Xi Jinping's comments, alongside Chancellor Angela Merkel, the President of the European Commission, Jean-Claude Juncker, and the President of France, Emmanuel Macron, a few days ago in Paris. With a hint of irony or provocation, he said: “Ladies and Gentlemen Westerners, do you realize that we have succeeded in building in 40 years what took you three centuries to achieve?” So, China is asserting its power with a very simple concept, the “New Silk Roads”, both appealing and tempting, but also threatening for some aspects of European sovereignty.

On other hand, the unfailing US ally, which for some represents the absolute pillar of security, the protection of Europe, has become at best indifferent and at worst threatening. We have just seen this recently with President Donald Trump's remarks about necessary retaliation in the case between Boeing and Airbus. […]

Bruno Le Maire is Minister of Economy and Finance of France.