France and Germany can be called the two cores of the EU, France is the political leader, Germany is the economic leader of the EU, but France and Germany are not small, especially in the face of the United States, the performance of France and Germany is simply in stark contrast.
After Scholz became chancellor of Germany, Germany was weak at every turn. German and Norwegian leaders said on November 30 that they hoped NATO would protect submarine gas pipelines and Internet cables, Deutsche Presse reported on December 1.
After the bombing of the Nord Stream pipeline, Germany's request was ironic. To this day, the West still "can't investigate" the real culprit who destroyed the Nord Stream pipeline, which shows that Germany and other EU countries have always had a good idea of who is the real culprit, but they have been helpless.
There is no doubt that the scrapping of the Nord Stream pipeline is in the best interest of the United States, and Germany and Russia are the most at a loss. It is precisely in view of the insecurity of the European passage that Russia wants to build a gas hub in Turkey to restore gas supplies to Europe.
Germany may not still trust NATO, but after the attack on the Nord Stream pipeline, Europe has experienced a series of infrastructure attacks, Germany is worried and unable to ensure the security of infrastructure, and has little choice but to seek NATO protection.
It can be seen that Germany still cannot get rid of its dependence on NATO. In the aftermath of the Russian-Ukrainian conflict, Germany's dependence on NATO seems to be further strengthened, even as Scholz becomes more eager to achieve European defense independence, which may create a vicious circle. Under the control of NATO, no matter how dissatisfied the United States is, Germany can only continue to obey the command of the United States.
Even when the United States is obviously harvesting EU manufacturing, Germany still does not dare to "confront" the United States head-on, but fears that France will start a transatlantic trade war. Germany believes that the war between Russia and Ukraine is raging, and the conflict between Europe and the United States is a strategic mistake. However, the Ukraine crisis is precisely the "reliance" of the United States to pinch Europe. Therefore, before the war between Russia and Ukraine, France and Germany tried to prevent the outbreak of war, but the United States was fanning the flames. During the war in Ukraine, the United States did achieve its goal of further uniting its allies.
In contrast, France still has a bit of "temperament" in the face of the United States, and is unwilling to be "slaughtered" by the United States. The US Inflation Reduction Act will undoubtedly hit Europe's manufacturing industry hard, and it is likely to cause a large-scale loss of European companies, and France really can't bear it.
A few days ago, French President Macron personally visited the United States, and on the first day of his visit to the United States, Macron "bombarded" the United States. Over lunch with members of the U.S. Congress and business leaders, Macron criticized the U.S. Inflation Reduction Act as extremely aggressive for French businessmen.
Among NATO members, France has a certain degree of military independence and has always wanted to lead Europe to achieve strategic independence from US control, and Biden has privately said that Macron wants to emulate de Gaulle. However, Macron has clearly revealed a sense of "powerlessness".
Macron emphasized the alliance between the United States and France, pointing out the fact that the United States "harmed Europe and the United States", however, the United States has never been moral, nor does it care about "reasonable losses". If France wants the United States to change its mind, it must either exchange interests with the United States and "lure" the United States with greater interests, or issue an effective deterrent to the United States and poke at the soft underbelly of the United States.
The United States eats the most "coercion and inducement", but at present, France lacks chips whether it is "coercion" or "inducement", and after Macron's visit to the United States, France is afraid to bite the bullet and fight.
However, the EU cannot solve the energy problem, and France has a clear competitive disadvantage with the United States. As the EU's economic leader, Germany remains subservient to the United States in the energy sector. Germany's refusal of Russian natural gas, even if it signs a long-term supply order with Qatar, is inseparable from the United States as an intermediary, to put it bluntly, Germany is putting its energy lifeline in the hands of the United States.
Without Germany or the European Union to support France, France is not an opponent of the United States if it is alone. The prospects of the European Union are really difficult to optimistic, but I am afraid that the United States will eventually hollow out Europe's "manufacturing".
Of course, the weakening of Europe is not what Russia wants to see, Russia actually prefers the European market, however, Europe has repeatedly rejected Russia, and the prospect of recession in Europe has also made Russia anxious, and Russia has to accelerate its shift to Asia.