It is all well said by President Emmanuel Macron in calling for the protection of Democratic/Liberal values/traditions in Europe. In my mind however this is only one part of the equation/approach. The other integral part of this approach is for Europe to apply basic principles when dealing with rogue/authoritarian regimes beyond Europe by terminating all forms of support to these regimes while devising a robust/effective mechanism/template to assist nations undergoing true Democratic transition; there should be a re-evaluation of success/failures of Arab Spring to come up with an alternative approach. The idea is NOT about being involved in nation building but rather to defend Democratic principles/values beyond Europe’s borders because in effect this approach helps minimise economic/political migration and also has direct correlation to national security. So in brief applying double standards when defending Democracy is a tried/tested recipe that does not work and has led us to where we are including I might add the rise of authoritarian regimes in Europe due entirely to failed “Foreign Policy” which is being used by far right parties to drive their more narrow agenda; so President Macron please consider the bigger picture here. I’ve written plenty on the subject on this site if you care to search under the term “democracy” and following is a related post;
Progressive Governance Initiative (PGI); Incentivising Change