Emmanuel Macron has a grand vision for the West. Putin has exposed the limits of his influence

The next day, Putin When he addressed the audience at his victory rally after winning election on May 7 2017, Macron promised not only to lead France, but also to provide stable leadership for the whole of the continent at a time of uncertainty. After arriving at the rally accompanied by the tune of Beethoven’s “Ode to Joy,” the EU’s anthem, Macron told the crowd he would “defend Europe.””Our civilization is at stake, our way of living, of being free, of promoting our values, our common enterprises and our hopes,” Macron said. Back then, the biggest threat to Europe was Brexit. The practicalities, implications and consequences of a member state leaving the EU were not fully known, and although the EU remained united throughout the process, the negotiations involving Britain’s departure from the bloc would practically bring the business of Brussels to a halt for the best part of four years. Macron, however, saw an opportunity to revitalize and strengthen the EU without the UK. In September 2017, his presidency still in its infancy, Macron delivered a speech in which he laid out his vision of a “sovereign Europe.” Macron wanted to reform and rebuild the bloc in a way that bound the EU closer than ever, including having a joint intervention force and defense budget, as well as the means “to effectively control our borders” and using economic incentives to “bring our social and fiscal models closer together.”Not everyone agreed with him. Sophie Pedder, Paris bureau chief for the Economist and author of “Revolution Française: Emmanuel Macron and the Quest to Reinvent a Nation,”  said that at the time it felt as though Macron was “calling out into a void,” as the rest of Europe struggled to get its head around the French President’s grand vision.  “Macron made this quite complicated plea for European sovereignty and there was silence from Germany, which had just had an election and it wasn’t clear what the resulting government would look like,” Pedder told CNN. Marie-Pierre Vedrenne, a French MEP, says that “European sovereignty was Emmanuel Macron’s commitment in 2017. We were considered alone and fools. Now, this is an objective shared by all Europeans and we are concretely working on it,” adding that the crises of Covid and Ukraine “have given a new impetus to the EU integration, reminding us the necessity to build a more sovereign, democratic and united Europe.” The past couple of decades have been very hard on Europe. From the financial crisis to Brexit and then the pandemic, both EU and non-EU countries made decisions to work more closely with countries like China and Russia, downgraded their own security on the assumption of the US NATO blanket and bickered over migration to such an extent that opponents could weaponize the issue of refugees. In other words, Europe made itself vulnerable.  The tragedy unfolding in Ukraine has pulled Europeans — and their Western partners — into the same place for the first time in years. Just as the crisis of Brexit coincided with Macron’s first electoral victory, the fact that Ukraine is happening during his second campaign is nothing more than chance.  But for a man who likes to talk about Europe’s destiny and, for better or worse, sees himself and his country as the beating heart of Europe, the crisis — once again — might have created the perfect opportunity for Macron to take on this pivotal role.