A protester confronts riot police in Mayotte.

French President Emmanuel Macron wants to establish France and Europe as the world’s “third pole of stability” by building bridges with Global South countries. But his credibility is undermined by his consistently demonstrated inability to attend to France’s own Global South—its overseas departments, regions and collectivities.

French President Emmanuel Macron.

As Europeans come to terms with the long-term consequences of Russia’s all-out invasion of Ukraine and growing isolationist sentiment in the U.S., the potential of a more militarily self-reliant EU has begun to affect internal policies and debates in Brussels that will influence European politics over the coming decades.