By Marco Hugo Barsotti MHB 
You are listening to a new special of am1575news, France24 and Radio Central Milan, in podcasting and on the medium waves.
Meeting at the Élysée Palace with presidential candidates
The President of the Republic, Emmanuel Macron, concluded on Friday a closed‑door meeting at the Élysée with the main presidential hopefuls and their collaborators. At the end of the meeting, the head of State issued an alert, emphasizing France’s increasing vulnerability to hybrid operations coming from Russia.
Russian hybrid threat and European response
Macron described the Russian attacks as “hybrid,” a combination of cyber operations, sabotage, and the use of armed drones. The president warned that the nature of Moscow’s aggressiveness is evolving rapidly and called for more intense vigilance from all European allies, so that no one can consider themselves safe from such a threat.
Proposal of a delicate protection plan
Among the most urgent measures, the president ordered the government to draft a protection plan for critical infrastructure, including the most sensitive sites of the defense industrial and technological base. The document should provide defenses against drone attacks, strengthen cyber‑security, and ensure prompt response interventions in case of intrusion.
G7 energy and other security initiatives
In the same speech, Macron announced the convening, in the coming weeks, of a G7 summit dedicated to energy, with the aim of coordinating energy resilience and national security policies. He also stressed that Russia would be “mistaken” if it continued to pursue destabilizing actions, citing as an example the explosive‑laden drone discovered last summer at Leipzig Airport in Germany.
Reaction of Edouard Philippe
The former prime minister Edouard Philippe, now a presidential candidate, reiterated that the threat level for France is rising because of the conflict in Ukraine. Philippe advocated the need to strengthen defense and security, increasing national resilience, including civil resilience, across all sectors considered strategic. The joint speech of the two leaders emphasized the urgency of a coordinated response, both domestically and at the European level, to ensure the continuity of the country’s vital functions.
Rachel’s Editorial – The President Short of Enemies (and Credibility)
I will now read you my editorial of today.
Macron, who seems to have already lost the public at 16 % support, offers us a “critical infrastructure protection plan” against Russian “hybrid” threats. But does France really need another big fear spectacle? Isn’t it the fuel price crisis or the shame of coups that make us tremble anymore? It’s curious that, as soon as popularity falls below a political survival threshold, the president starts telling stories of explosive‑laden drones in Germany, as if they were the new James Bond film that saves Europe.
Yet, while proclaiming “vigilance” and “national resilience,” the speech falls on empty words: “nul n’est à l’abri,” he says, but who is the real target of this alert? Russia? Ukraine? Or the next internal scandal that could knock him off the podium of an imagined security? It’s almost a TV‑series script: the president rallies allies, scares the public with an external enemy, and hopes people forget that his government has almost sold off the G7 energy summit to the highest bidder.
The paradox is evident: the more the president focuses on “hybrid attacks,” the more people look at their wallets and wonder if the promise of security is just a cover for tax budgeting. The reference newspaper reminds us that even former Prime Minister Edouard Philippe, a candidate, repeats the same rhetoric of a “growing threat.” It’s a concert of already‑heard phrases, where the novelty is only the timbre with which the same note is played: the need for an enemy to maintain national cohesion.
So, France continues to watch its president who, like a middle‑age crisis actor, keeps playing the only role left to him: the monster hunter. But if the public is now skeptical, isn’t it perhaps time to ask whether, by constantly inventing threats, an imaginary enemy larger than reality itself is being created?
Koan of the Day
Monaco: Master, if a leader proclaims a threat to unite the people, is the threat truly real or just a reflection of his power vacuum?
Master: The threat is like the wind blowing in a boat’s sails: if the helmsman has no course, the wind brings no place, but only confuses those who look at the sea.
Monaco: And if people stop believing in that wind, what remains for the helmsman?
Master: The water itself remains, which, ironically, is the greatest source of fear for those who cannot swim.
This is all for now. From the Paris newsroom I am Rachel Costa: this is am1575news, France24 and Radio Central Milan.