The longest-serving finance minister in modern French history thinks Europe's problem isn't talent, money, or ideas. It's that Europe can no longer make decisions. Bruno Le Maire joins S2G’s Sanjeev Krishnan and Frédéric Michel, former chief strategy and communications advisor to Emmanuel Macron, to explain how power shifted away from elected governments, toward Washington, Beijing, tech giants, and the bond market, and why Europe's institutions were built for a world that no longer exists. His fixes are structural, with a core group of six countries moving on defense, chips, and AI, competition rules that let European champions form, and a capital markets union that starts with five willing members instead of waiting for 27. He's candid about the risks at home, with French yields above 4% and debt service climbing toward €100 billion a year, and about why voters are drifting to parties that promise rupture. Yet he ends on conviction: Europe remains the best place to live, and with a handful of big decisions, it can still compete. A rare insider account that is explicit about the problems but stays constructive and hopeful.
02:07 — Power has moved from governments to tech and finance
05:17 — When Musk cut Russia off from Starlink
07:24 — Aging, warming, and AI arriving at once
10:36 — Why voters reject pension reform
13:01 — Let six countries decide instead of twenty-seven
16:41 — France has 48 ministers and needs 10
19:18 — French bond yields and what could break
24:23 — Debt, nuclear power, and German rearmament
28:27 — Three things Europe needs to build a hyperscaler
36:50 — The rise of the far right, and why he's still optimistic
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