French President Emmanuel Macron said the European Union must stop being naive in the face of growing competition from the US and China, and repeated calls for a “buy European” strategy in key sectors such as defense.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and France's President Emmanuel Macron warned in a joint opinion piece for the Financial Times that the European Union had to make dramatic efforts to improve its competitiveness or risk seeing its way of living undermined.

BERLIN (AP) — President Emmanuel Macron on Sunday started the first state visit to Germany by a French head of state in 24 years, a three-day trip meant to underline the strong ties between the European Union’s traditional leading powers ahead of European Parliament elections in which far-right parties in both countries hope for gains.