The foreign policy chief said the bloc’s future depended on the results of the upcoming EU elections, and that the world would continue to function “without Europeans”.
“The biggest risk to the 2019 parliamentary elections lies in the impending face-off between so-called European humanists, who are open-minded and committed to defending this area of freedom and [European populists] who are turning inwards,” Mr Le Drian said in a joint interview with broadcasters France Inter and France Info and newspaper Le Monde.
A European Parliament dominated by eurosceptics could cause the “unravelling” of Europe, Mr Le Drian said, adding that the “world will carry on functioning without Europeans”.
Never before have the EU elections been this crucial, he continued, adding that voters wanted a Europe that “protects itself and its citizens” and “respects the autonomy of member states”.
Mr Le Drian’s concerns were echoed by government spokesman Benjamin Griveaux, who said earlier in the day that hardline nationalists from across the political spectrum were trying to tear Europe apart.
“These polls are probably the most important elections since the European Union was created,” Mr Griveaux said in a joint interview with Europe 1 radio, TV channel CNews and newspaper Les Echos.
“Because you have, in Europe, political forces that want to put an end to the European adventure,” he added.
Mr Griveaux also took a swipe at EU lawmaker and far-left opposition party leader Jean-Luc Mélenchon, saying that the left-wing firebrand was a nationalist at heart.
“I fear that Jean-Luc Mélenchon, who describes himself as an internationalist, is in fact a first-class nationalist,” he said, adding that the veteran leftist was “fighting the wrong battles”.
“The European elections are about Europe, and yet he is obsessed with [President] Emmanuel Macron,” he continued, in direct reference to Mr Mélenchon’s recent pledge to turn the EU elections into an “anti-Macron referendum”.
Mr Macron, an ardent europhile, positioned himself last week as the main opponent to populist, anti-immigration parties in Europe, as he renewed his plea for a more integrated EU amid a rising tide of nationalism.