Eric Frécon

It’s time for Australia to take EU’s defence push seriously | @BartHoogeveen | bit.ly/4lOAe02

We have nuclear submarines, Rafale jets and a pack of wolves. 🇫🇷😎

"No exit strategy" - German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius sharply critical of the Trump Administration's Iran war strategy Also real frustration at contradictory messaging from DC: jagging from "spend more $ and protect your own defence" to "you cowards, you don't help us"

@EU_Commission President @vonderleyen visited Sydney's major naval base, Garden Island Defence Precinct. Thanks to the new 🇪🇺-🇦🇺 Security and Defence Partnership, we are advancing peace, security & stability in Europe & the Indo-Pacific region. @GVisentinEU @EU_ASIAPAC @eu_eeas

"European patriots" meet in Budapest to support Orbán

With the Australia-EU SDP signed, re-upping 3 articles from the @LowyInstitute Interpreter in June last year calling for closer Australia and EU defence and security cooperation. Featuring Michael Wesley, Peter Tesch and yours truly. lowyinstitute.org/the-interprete…

This week 🇪🇺 President @vonderleyen and 🇦🇺 Prime Minister @AlboMP signed two major agreements: - a free trade deal that has been under negotiation for eight years, and - a new security and defence partnership that was agreed in less than five months. ⏰The PM also announced that Australia aims to become an Associate member of Horizon Europe, in his words ‘the largest research organisation in the world’. A lot of ambition and potential to unlock. In this @ASPI_org explainer report, I offer a deep-dive into the Security & Defence Partnership and look at the ingredients that would deliver impact and greater capability!⬇️ @EU_ASIAPAC @EUinAus @AustraliaEU @HorizonEU @dfat @EUSec_Defence @DefenceAust

'Kiribati exemplifies the underestimated influence of microstates in shaping the international agenda, especially on environmental and nuclear issues,' writes @EfreconMerlyon. aspistrategist.org.au/australia-shou…

In European defence, a sudden reluctance to buy American | @ValkStrategy | bit.ly/4uO5xfJ

The 🇪🇺 and 🇦🇺 have concluded FTA negotiations, signed a Security and Defence Partnership, & intend to commence Horizon Europe negotiations, PM @AlboMP & @EU_Commission President @vonderleyen announce in a joint statement. link.europa.eu/dVQFQh @GVisentinEU @EU_EEAS @EU_ASIAPAC

Welcome to Canberra, President @vonderleyen. In a world shaped by strategic competition and hybrid threats, closer EU-Australia cooperation is a timely step. As @EfreconMerlyon and I argued in @ASPI_org Strategist, the two should deepen their partnership⤵️ aspistrategist.org.au/the-eu-has-muc…

I think we have a pretty serious problem. It is not the role of a NATO Secretary General to make political comments about a member state of the Alliance. It is even a sheer violation of his mandate, which requires complete neutrality. A stern warning is in order. #Daddy

This is what a war crime looks like. Whatever military value the bridge in southern Lebanon had is vastly outweighed by its value for civilian transport. Israel's destruction of it is the war crime of disproportionality. x.com/ZeinakhodrAlja…

As polls show Hungary's Viktor Orban losing the elections next month, JD Vance plans to visit to bolster him, the most autocratic, anti-democratic leader in the European Union. It is horrible what Trump-Vance stand for. trib.al/03vLtVa

JD Vance in September 2025: "If you celebrate Charlie Kirk's death, you should not be protected from being fired for being a disgusting person."

BREAKING: In a desperate effort to help Hungarian autocrat Viktor Orban, a close ally of the Kremlin, win the April election, where polls show he’s expected to lose, Russia’s foreign intelligence service (SVR) reportedly proposed “the Gamechanger,” a staged assassination attempt to boost support for him, The Washington Post reports. “Such an incident will shift the perception of the campaign out of the rational realm of socioeconomic questions into an emotional one, where the key themes will become state security and the stability and defense of the political system,” operatives wrote in a report prepared for the SVR’s main political influence unit.

The President of the United States just recorded a campaign video for Viktor Orban. From the Oval Office. Orban – the man blocking EU aid to Ukraine, maintaining warm ties with Moscow, and systematically dismantling Hungarian democracy for fifteen years – needed a boost ahead of his April election. So Trump sent one. “A very big hello to CPAC Hungary.” Reagan would have needed a drink.

Bonjour et bienvenue to MAJGEN Vincent Chusseau. 🇫🇷 @Armee_de_lair Space Commander, French Space Command. Hosted by Director Space Operations, GPCAPT Peter Crookes the visit enabled discussion and advocacy on the safe and responsible use of space. 🪐 🌘 🛰️ 🚀 ⭐

Looking at Donald Trump pushing the world economy into the abyss and incoherently conducting a senseless war, it is impossible not to think of the well known Shakespeare quotation : “It is a tale, told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing”. Macbeth.

Antarctic allies: Australia and New Zealand at the end of the earth | @BuchananLiz | bit.ly/3Pmfy3x