Macron and Europe: the French vision for strategic autonomy
Last week, France’s president Emmanuel Macron threw the EU bubble into turmoil by suggesting that Europe should not become the United States’ “vassal” over Taiwan
Experts & Staff
Célia Belin
Head, ECFR Paris
Senior Policy Fellow
Areas of expertise
Trans-Atlantic relations, US politics and foreign policy, French politics and foreign policy, and domestic determinants of foreign policy
Languages
French, English, Spanish
Biography
Dr Célia Belin is a senior policy fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations and head of its Paris office since January 2023.
Between 2017 and 2022, Belin was a Visiting Fellow at the Center on the United States and Europe of the Brookings Institution, in Washington DC, and served as the Interim Director of the Center between May and August 2022. She remains affiliated as a non-resident senior fellow with Brookings.
Prior to joining Brookings, Belin served for over five years as a Special Advisor on US and transatlantic affairs in the French foreign ministry’s Centre d’Analyse, de Prévision et de Stratégie and chief editor of the centre’s flagship publication, Les Carnets du CAPS.
She holds a PhD in political science/international relations from the University Panthéon-Assas (Paris 2), an MA in international relations from the University Paris 2 as well as a BA in modern languages and business from the University of Burgundy.
Belin is the author of “Des Démocrates en Amérique: L’heure des choix face à Trump,” published by Fayard-Fondation Jean Jaurès in 2020. She regularly writes in the press and specialised journals on US affairs, French foreign policy and trans-Atlantic relations and is a frequent commentator on radio and television. Belin is also a member of the editorial committee of the online francophone platform Le Rubicon.
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In the media
The question is not whether European strategic autonomy is realistic or not, but whether we really have a choice – the French believe it is inevitable
Célia Belin on the feasibility of European strategic autonomy
If a change in US policy resulted in a Russian victory in Ukraine, it could very well destroy the very idea that the US is committed to the defence of Europe
Célia Belin, Majda Ruge and Jeremy Shapiro analyse what the return of a Republican president to power in Washington would mean for Europe
If a change in US policy were to result in a Russian victory in Ukraine, it could well destroy the very idea that the US is committed to European defence
Célia Belin, Majda Ruge and Jeremy Shapiro analyse what a Republican president returning to power in Washington would mean for Europe
I don’t expect the [US] to react extremely strongly to this if they feel that the rest of Europe is not supportive of Macron’s views
Célia Belin talks to podcast host Gideon Rachman about Macron’s image, his diplomatic gaffes and his struggle to win support for his policies at home
One benefit of those deals may be to mollify some of the anger at home
Célia Belin comments on French president Macron’s economic engagement with China