Macron showcases European military prowess at Paris parade

PARIS - French President Emmanuel Macron on Sunday put European military cooperation at the heart of the Bastille Day parade at a time of growing tensions with the United States.

Key EU leaders, including German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte, joined Macron to watch the annual parade down the Champs Elysees that marks the July 14, 1789 storming of the Bastille fortress in Paris in the French Revolution.

More than 4,000 members of the armed forces were to make the ceremonial march to the Place de la Concorde, as fighter jets roared overhead.

Standing in an open-top command car alongside France's chief of staff General Francois Lecointre, Macron inspected the waiting forces and waved to the crowds.

But in a reminder of the domestic troubles the president has faced in the last months, he met jeers and whistles from supporters of the yellow vest movement who have staged weekly protests against the government.

Closer European defense cooperation has been one of Macron's key foreign policy aims and the president shows no sign of wavering despite growing political turbulence in Germany and Britain's looming exit from the European Union.

At the 2017 parade, Macron's guest of honor was the freshly-inaugurated US President Donald Trump as the young French leader sought to take the initiative in forming a bond with his counterpart.

But since then ties between Trump and Macron have soured over the US pullout from the Paris climate accord and the Iran nuclear deal, as well as France's new law for a tax on digital giants, mostly US companies.

Macron, who pushed the idea of the European Intervention Initiative, or E2I, to undertake missions outside of existing structures like NATO, said European defense cooperation is crucial.

"Never, since the end of World War II has Europe been so important," Macron said in a statement to mark July 14.

He said the aim of the E2I was to "act together and reinforce our capacity to act together".

Forces from all nine countries taking part alongside France in the E2I - including Britain and Germany were represented at the parade.

In a sign of France's ambition to be a leading modern military power under Macron, the president on Saturday announced the creation of a national space force command that will eventually be part of the air force.

"We will reinforce our knowledge of the situation in space, we will better protect our satellites, including in an active manner," Macron said.

Agence France-Presse