Macron: Cooperation is powerful message as nationalism looms

Macron thanked Australia for sending “a huge part of its population” to fight in France in both world wars (Shutterstock photo)

SYDNEY, Australia — French President Emmanuel Macron used a ceremony Wednesday commemorating Australia’s wartime co-operation with France to highlight a global worldview as a counter to nationalism.

A week after criticizing President Donald Trump’s “America first” policies on a trip to Washington, and hours after a May Day gathering of European anti-immigration populist leaders in his home country, Macron thanked Australia for sending “a huge part of its population” to fight in France in both world wars.

Speaking alongside Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull at a wreath-laying ceremony at Sydney’s main war memorial, Macron said remembering the sacrifice of Australian soldiers in France was “about understanding the foundations on which a nation is built.”

“The Australian nation was forged on the western front by sending a huge part of its population at that time to the other side of the world,” Macron said.

“That is a powerful message at a time when nationalism is looming, entrenched behind its borders and its hostility to the rest of the world.

“No great nation has ever been built by turning its back on the world.”

Macron’s impassioned speech came after a rally in Nice on Tuesday headed by French far-right leader Marine Le Pen, who joined other anti-immigration counterparts from around Europe in a gathering aimed at energizing their campaigns for next year’s European Parliament elections.

Populist leaders Harald Vilimsky of Austria’s Freedom Party and Czech nationalist Tomio Okamura also appeared as part of a joint effort to trumpet the gains made by Europe’s far-right parties, and to rail against their common foe — the European Union.

On his state visit to the U.S. last week, Macron drew sharp contrasts with Trump’s worldview, laying out a firm vision of global leadership that rejects “the illusion of nationalism.”

On a two-day visit to Australia, only the second in history by a French president, Macron noted the bond between France and Australia had been shown again with the two countries working to fight terrorism in Syria, and to counteract the financing of terrorism.

“It is about building, over the next 50 years, an outstanding strategic partnership that enables us to defend together our ideal of love, freedom and sovereignty,” he said, adding the lessons of the two countries’ wartime forebears would not be forgotten.

“Learning their lessons is about refusing to stand by powerless when … sorrow is inflicted on men, women and children in Syria with chemical weapons that the international community believed it had banished for all time after the Great War.”

The two nations signed a pact to counter cyberwarfare as part of Macron’s visit on Wednesday.

The president also awarded the Legion of Honor — the highest award the country can bestow on foreign nationals — to three Australian WWII veterans who served in France.

Macron, who is from the Somme region of northern France, used his visit to formally thank Australia for its wartime assistance.

“After (World War II) had torn the European continent apart, the children of the Somme continued to play amongst the monuments, museums, cemeteries and countless traces of the Australian soldiers who fought in the two world wars,” he said.

“I was one of those children. I know how indebted my country is to you.

“And so it is with emotion and honour that I come to you on behalf of France to say ‘Merci’. Thank you.”

In talks Wednesday, Macron and Turnbull were expected to focus on trade and defence and strategic issues, including French firm Naval Group’s contract to build Australia’s new fleet of 12 submarines in Adelaide.

China’s growing influence in the South Pacific is likely to also be discussed.

After his visit to Australia, Macron will travel to New Caledonia to rally support for the territory remaining part of France when residents go to a referendum in November.