“Europe today is mortal—it can die—and it depends on the choices we make now,” French President Emmanuel Macron warned in a speech at Sorbonne University on April 25. He called on the European Union to break from the United States and become its own superstate. “We must build a Europe capable of showing that it is never the vassal of the United States of America, and that it also knows how to speak to all regions of the world,” he said.

To achieve this, Europe must become far more unified and autonomous. “The era of basing our production in China, of delegating our defense to the U.S., and of getting our energy from Russia is over,” he said. He accused both China and the U.S. of disrespecting global trade rules and called on the EU to change its global trading policy.

First of all, the EU must prioritize buying weapons from other EU countries before buying foreign weapons. Macron wants Europe to be able to defend itself against Russia without American help.

Even though he was careful to emphasize Europe’s growing role within the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, he also called for a new “European defense initiative” in a jab against the U.S.-dominated nato alliance that currently guarantees European security.

He also urged Europe to train more high-ranking military personnel and drastically increase industrial production. “We must produce more, we must produce faster, and we must produce as Europeans,” Macron said.

To achieve these goals, Europe must double its financial capacity, according to Macron. He wants the EU to issue common debt to finance the defense industry, like it did to fund its response during the covid pandemic. He also wants Europe to become the global leader in five sectors by 2030: artificial intelligence, quantum computing, the space industry, biotechnology and new energies.

Since public money is not enough, he urged Europe to complete creating the capital markets union (cmu), an idea that has been on the table since 2015 without real progress. Finalizing this project would provide a single market for capital within Europe that allows nations across the Continent to more easily pool together private savings to invest in European companies.

These initiatives sound promising, but the EU has been trying to do a lot of these things for years without success. Macron’s talk is cheap. Before France can make any significant moves, it needs support from Germany. Recent events show it is Germany, not France, that speaks for Europe.

In February, when Macron wanted to send troops to Ukraine, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz immediately ruled out the idea. “[T]here will be no ground troops, no soldiers on Ukrainian soil sent there by European countries or nato states,” he said. Germany also still refuses to deliver the Taurus missiles that France and Britain wanted to send Ukraine earlier this year.

Nevertheless, Macron loves Germany and realizes he needs a strong alliance with it to accomplish his goals. He is even willing to share nuclear bombs with Germany. In 2018, he told the German parliament: “If you do not understand the words from France, remember that France loves you.” In January of this year, Macron gave a speech—largely in German—in which he said that Germany and France have an “inseparable link” that “allowed our two countries to flourish after the Second World War.”

In the latest issue of the Philadelphia Trumpet, editor in chief Gerald Flurry commented on this speech:

[I]t was America and Britain that saved France from Germany in the two world wars. But the French leader today loves Germany and is increasingly distrustful and even hostile toward America and Britain.

Many in Germany were fascinated by Macron’s speech because he is more enthusiastic about a German-led European empire than many Germans are!

Mr. Flurry explained that France will continue to empower Germany as both nations seek to build a United States of Europe. The Bible shows that the superstate Macron wants will soon rise, but it will be on Germany’s terms. (To learn more, read Germany and the Holy Roman Empire.)

Meanwhile, France is also playing a major role in worsening Europe’s relations with America. As Macron subtly hinted at in his speech on Thursday, Europe wants its army to be separate from the U.S. and nato. Mr. Flurry wrote:

Like Macron, Germany is actively promoting the construction of a European military. However, it does not want to give the impression that this army is in opposition to nato and the U.S.

But it is. That is exactly what this is about!

Bible prophecy shows that France, along with other European nations, will betray its American brother.

Genesis 37 records Joseph going to look for his brothers in a field, but they were jealous of Joseph and plotted a scheme to murder him. Reuben, the firstborn of the brothers and progenitor of the modern-day French people, intervened. He suggested throwing Joseph into a pit instead, hoping he could later save him and return him to his father. But another brother, Judah, sold Joseph into slavery before Reuben could rescue him. Joseph later became father of Ephraim and Manasseh—the ancestors of the modern nations of Britain and the United States. (You can prove this by requesting a free copy of The United States and Britain in Prophecy.)

Reuben failed to boldly stand up to his brothers to save Joseph. He was the firstborn, but he betrayed his younger brother, which led to Joseph’s enslavement. That is exactly what France will do to America and Britain in the end time. Mr. Flurry continued:

This is history, and it is in the context of end-time prophecy. This history is going to be repeated. Together with Genesis 49, this gives a clue of what France, modern Reuben, will do in this end time. …

To whatever extent other Israelitish nations [Reuben’s brothers] like Belgium, Denmark, Iceland, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden or Switzerland will play in this prophecy, it will be France that bears the responsibility—just as Reuben did anciently!

Like some of its brother nations, France will then participate in the German-led United States of Europe prophesied in Revelation 13 and 17. In doing so, it will reject the allies it fought alongside in two world wars and empower a vicious historic enemy. France will repeat the history of its ancestor and allow America and Britain to be sold into slavery (Ezekiel 5).

Fortunately, there is good news. Revelation 17:14 and related passages show that this terrifying European power, including the treacherous France, will come to a dramatic end. The world will at last come under righteous rule that will end all wars, betrayal and slavery—and a peaceful, prosperous age for all mankind will begin.

To understand France’s role in end-time events and the hope-filled future that is drawing near, read Mr. Flurry’s article “France’s Deadly Ignorance About Germany.”