French President Emmanuel Macron has urged Europe to assert itself on the world stage, saying it is time to start acting like a 'power'. In the face of growing threats from China, Russia, and now the US, he told a group of European newspapers that the continent faced a 'wake-up call'. 'Are we ready to become a power? This is the question in the field of economy and finance, in defence and security, and in our democratic systems.' Macron reiterated his call for EU-wide mutualised loans in order to raise hundreds of billions of euros needed for industrial investment. He asserted, 'The time has come to launch a shared debt capacity to fund our future expense – eurobonds for the future. We need big European programmes to finance the best projects.' He acknowledged that similar calls in the past have met scepticism from Germany and other nations, fearing that France is seeking to leverage Europe to manage its financial burdens. However, he noted a growing demand for mutualised European debt in the financial markets, stating, 'The world markets are increasingly afraid of the American greenback [dollar]. They want alternatives… ' According to Macron, the 27-member EU needs €1.2 trillion a year to invest in vital sectors like security, defense, clean energy, and artificial intelligence. He emphasized that Europe is currently the most open market globally, and there's a need for coherence in imposing rules on producers. 'Today Europe faces a massive challenge in a world of disorder,' he noted, pointing out that climate change is accelerating and geopolitical relations are shifting. 'Today, we Europeans are on our own. But we have each other. We are 450 million people. It's huge.'