Always has been, thanks to Gaullist "strategic autonomy". The cocky old man has been proven so incredibly right these last few years.

They have nukes.

I find it quite depressing, considering that our current PM is exactly what I would call spineless.

Macron trying to legitimise his dictatorship (he gave the power to form a government to a party whose leaders he's friends with that achieved only 5% of the vote) and garner sorely needed votes for the next election.

I actually think they're trying to leverage it to gain back what was originally in place instead of caving in like everyone else.

Like right now Macron is talking big about announcing recognition of Palestine in September. He's giving the US 2 months to bring a better deal or risk losing unilateral NATO support over American foreign policy in Israel.

I mean its good that they're actually deciding these things for themselves, but if Trump hadn't blown up the global market with delusional tariff wars and hanging "allies" to dry, France probably wouldn't have blinked an eye for anything the US demanded so long as they get paid.

The rest of Europe doesn't want to take on the burden of an independent foreign/defense policy.

Western European countries get to enjoy their peace dividend while not needing to answer to their public about foreign policy. Eastern Europe is scared that Russian aggression is going to include their countries.

France is probably the only EU nation that can self deploy an expeditionary force or project power beyond its borders. France is also the only EU nation with a nuclear deterrent.

Isn't it just talk when it comes to Macron's gov't?

I did most of my growing up in the 1970s, where the universal parental advice to every single child who was bullied was, "The only way to stop a bully is to stand up to him."

Like so many other things Gen-X was taught in our childhood, I now believe it was just a hollow lie. Maybe my parents repeated it without realizing it was one, like so many others.

He'll be tossing them out windows like Putin eventually

We also learned that Nazism doesn't go well, but apparently we can only maintain these lessons for one or two generations.

Some people did

Some other people learned absolutely nothing

I suppose it could be a bit like a union deal no? The negotiators have a tentative agreement and then would the members ratify it? (Would members in this case European nations or representatives in parliament or something else? I'm unsure.)

How?

When would it be ratified? I can't seem to find any concrete information