The American Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth spoke on Saturday of an “invasion” of immigrants while commemorating the Landings of June 1944, while calling on European countries to increase their defense capabilities, a few hours after having given up on participating in the international ceremony.
The head of the Pentagon seemed to refer to a threat that immigration, according to him, represented for “Western civilization”, in an analogy with the landing of allied forces organized 82 years ago. “Unfortunately, today, different European beaches are being stormed by various dangerous ideologies: on the beaches of Spain, Italy, Greece and Bulgaria, boats and men are disembarking,” he attacked, launching: “European capitals will they act against this invasion or is it already too late?
“Our allies must be with us”
“The men buried here fought within a warrior alliance where each partner brought the measure of their industry, their courage and their sacrifice,” declared Pete Hegseth in Colleville-sur-Mer (Calvados), in front of the 9,387 white crosses of the cemetery of American soldiers fallen in action during the Battle of Normandy, on Omaha Beach. “Neither empty slogans, nor sumptuous summits, nor communicated,” he quipped, “each nation” allied “bled, took its part” in 1944.
“America must show the way, and we will, but our allies must be with us, shoulder to shoulder,” announced the Minister of Defense, who announced Friday evening his withdrawal from the international ceremony scheduled for Saturday, to devote himself to the American ceremony. This close friend of President Donald Trump also judged that “peace is only guaranteed by force”, abstaining in his speech, delivered in the presence of his French counterpart Catherine Vautrin, from any explicit mention of the ongoing conflicts in Iran or Ukraine.
“Great friendly people”
During the international ceremony on Saturday afternoon, French Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu paid tribute to the “3,000 men barely 20 years old” who died on D-Day, who offered “the breath of their youth, and the sacrifice of their lives.” Sébastien Lecornu celebrated the “resilience” of the United Kingdom during the conflict and the “American people, this great people friend of freedom”.
As if echoing the threats of abandonment by the United States, he called for taking up the “challenge of our generation”, that of “our autonomy, our ability to defend ourselves by ourselves”, in order to face the “threats” which “are come together, intensify and multiply”. In the morning, the head of government participated in the military ceremony of the School of Marine Fusiliers and Marine Commandos in Ouistreham (Calvados), at the landing site of the 177 French Kieffer commandos.
During the international ceremony, the defense attaché at the German embassy in France, Markus Reinhardt, described June 6 as a “day of gratitude” to the allied soldiers “of different languages and origins” who allowed the European continent to regain its freedom. The brigadier general also welcomed this “cooperation” from which “partnerships” can arise to save a peace which “remains fragile”.
