Macron Was Right About the Future of Europe's Security—Is It Too Late?

French President Emmanuel Macron has long sought to position himself at the forefront of a major shift in Europe 's security outlook.

The French leader's repeated calls for a more powerful, integrated and independent European military appear to have been vindicated.

But uncertainties remain as to how quickly a deeply bureaucratic and politically fractured European Union will move toward this long-stated goal.

European militaries rely on the U.S. for "big-ticket items" such as satellite-driven intelligence-gathering, deep-strike capabilities and air defense, a professor says.

France has a history of diverging with NATO allies over concerns of U.N. dominance.

France is the only EU member state with its own strategic arsenal and the United Kingdom also maintains its own nuclear capabilities.

Leaders such as Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni , Slovakian Prime Minister Robert Fico and Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán aligning themselves with some of the Trump administration's talking points on Ukraine and European politics.

" Europeans are gradually becoming aware of their solitude," Jean-Pierre Maulny , a leading security expert, told Newsweek .