Entretien de Jean-Noël Barrot, ministre de l’Europe et des affaires étrangères, avec « NPR » (Munich, 14 février 2026)
Q - Jean-Noel Barrot is France’s minister for Europe and foreign affairs, so France’s top diplomat. Welcome, bienvenue, enchantee.
R - Merci beaucoup, thank you very much.
Q - We are speaking one floor up from where the U.S. Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, spoke today here at the Munich Security Conference. He received a standing ovation. And I wonder, do you believe that is because America’s allies loved what he had to say, or because you feared it might be so much worse ?
R - I believe that if the crowd here welcomed Secretary Rubio’s remarks, it’s because he emphasized two important points. One is the historical links between the U.S. and Europe. Let us not forget that 250 years ago, France and the U.S. invented democracy. And the second thing that I think people took away from his remarks is that there are some challenges that, in some sense, the U.S. cannot overcome alone.
Q - It is true that Secretary Rubio spoke warmly of the shared history between Europe and the U.S. It’s also true that he said, hey, the U.S. doesn’t want to blow up the trans-Atlantic Alliance. We want to make it stronger. But as I was listening, I heard him saying, what comes next is a choice for Europe.
R - And that’s…
Q - You’re with us, or you’re weak, and you’re declining. I mean, did you hear a, it’s our way, or you’re on your own ?
R - So what we’ve been hearing from the United States for a long time now is Europe become stronger and more independent.
Q- Is President Trump the wake-up call that Europe needed ?
R - The way we see it from Paris and from France is that the messages that President Trump is now conveying are the same that he conveyed in his first term and that to a very large extent, it’s - these are bipartisan messages that we received loud and clear. And if we’ve done so much over the past 10 years to increase our sovereignty and our independence, it’s also because we’ve heard from our partner allies (ph) that action was expected on our end.
Q - One on Ukraine - is it a problem that peace talks over Ukraine, a European nation, do not include Europeans ?
R - One way or another, Europe will be included in those discussions. There can be no peace in Ukraine without Europe. There is no sanction lifting. There is no security guarantee. There is no financial support if Europe is not included. So we support…
Q - But you would like a seat at the table for those talks ?
R - At some point, the seat at the table will be drawn for Europe. Right now, what’s positive is that under the U.S. mediation that we have supported and that we support, there are direct discussions between Ukrainians and Russian negotiators. This is good, and it should continue.
Q - For the many Americans listening to us who are trying to figure out, will the trans-Atlantic security not just survive but thrive ? - you say what ?
R - I think it’s in the interest of the United States and in the interest of Europe because of geography that will not change to…
Q - Is that a yes ?
R - …To further our alliance in a time where threat is increasing in the Arctic, in the southern flank of the trans-Atlantic alliance, and obviously on the East with Russia being a major threat to not only the security of the European continent, but also to its civilizational project, to democracy, to freedom. And I think that freedom and democracy mean something in the United States of America.
Q - But forgive me - you’re saying it is in both of our interests, both of our countries’ interests.
R - Yeah.
Q - Are you confident that it will, in fact, survive and thrive ?
R - Well, you tell me. We’re developing European capacity and vision within NATO, within the trans-Atlantic Alliance. But then it will all depend on the weight, on the importance that the U.S. will ascribe to NATO. What they have been telling us for a long time now is that they want Europe to take a bigger share of the responsibility, which is exactly what we’re doing in close coordination with them.
Q - Jean-Noel Barrot is the foreign minister of France, speaking to us here in the middle of the Munich Security Conference. Good to see you. Thank you very much. Merci beaucoup.
R - Merci beaucoup. Thank you very much.
(Source : site Internet de la National Public Radio)