Macron leaves angry farmers for soon-to-be NATO member Sweden

Tuesday marks the start of French President Emmanuel Macron’s two-day official visit to Sweden, a Nordic nation that is about to join NATO in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Macron departed for Stockholm on Monday night, coinciding with the irate French farmers’ start of barricades around Paris. The largest agricultural producer in the European Union has seen a wave of demonstrations in recent weeks, with farmers calling for increased compensation and a loosening of environmental regulations that they claim make it harder for them to compete with less restrictive nations. The spectacle of tractors obstructing the roadways leading to the French city will stand in stark contrast to the grandeur of the dinners and receptions that King Carl XVI Gustaf and Queen Silvia are hosting in the capital of Sweden. Macron is due to speak in Stockholm on Tuesday at a press conference with Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson, just before his Prime Minister Gabriel Attal presents his general policy statement to the French parliament. European defence will be a key topic during Macron and Kristersson’s meeting, which takes place as the war in Ukraine nears its third year. “Renewed threats on the European continent are leading Sweden and France to take concrete steps to strengthen our defence ties. Both through our countries’ strong defence industries and by becoming NATO allies as soon as possible,” Macron and Kristersson wrote in articles published in newspapers Les Echos and Dagens Nyheter. Sweden dropped two centuries of military non-alignment and applied for NATO membership in 2022 in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. After more than a year of delays, Turkey’s parliament ratified Sweden’s bid last week, leaving Hungary the lone holdout. NATO membership applications require unanimous ratification by all alliance members. Kristersson is expected to discuss the issue with his Hungarian counterpart Viktor Orban in Brussels on Thursday, on the sidelines of a European Council meeting. Macron, who will visit Ukraine in February, is set to address defence issues in a speech on Tuesday afternoon to Swedish officers at the Military Academy Karlberg. France and Sweden are due to sign a declaration of intent on air defence and air surveillance systems, while arms companies Saab and MBDA are expected to agree on a contract on the development of the Akeron anti-tank missile “in the next few days”, according to government officials. The two leaders will also sign a new bilateral strategic partnership, according to the French presidency. Macron will then head to the southern Swedish town of Lund on Wednesday for, among other things, a visit to the under-construction European Spallation Source (ESS), a scientific neutron research centre co-financed by France and 12 other European countries.