“Europe still has difficulty with conflict postures,” says Clément Beaune

The Paris MP and former Minister of European Affairs defends on France Inter this Sunday Emmanuel Macron’s comments on the potential sending of troops to Ukraine.

“Europe still struggles with conflict postures”, estimates Sunday March 10 on France Inter, Clément Beaune, MP for Paris, former Minister of European Affairs. He is responsible in particular for working on the presidential majority program for Europeans next June.

“The President of the Republic tried to discuss with Vladimir Putin, he was criticized. Today, there is no dialogue possible and there is a hardening in Russia and in Ukraine and towards us, via cyberattacks notably”argues Clément Beaune after Emmanuel Macron’s controversial declaration on a possible sending of Western troops to Ukraine.

“We still live in a certain comfort thinking that kyiv is very far away”

The United States, but also European allied countries including Spain and Germany, were reluctant. “Europe has been united in each of the important decisions of sanctions against Russia, of support against Ukraine”would like to emphasize Clément Beaune even if he does not deny these differences. “We are in a changing moment. We see that the situation is difficult on the ground, Russia’s attacks are increasing, including against us. And we see that Europe still has difficulty with conflict postures”he justifies before asking: “Isn’t it sometimes the role of France to shake up a little the bourgeois comfort of Europe which believes that peace is a given? I believe so. We must do it with prudence, with unity “.

He calls for “measure the seriousness of the situation”. Clément Beaune who “put in the lot”believes that“we still live in a certain comfort thinking that kyiv is very far away”. However, the “Security of Ukraine is ours”. “The same people who told you that Vladimir Putin would never attack Ukraine are telling you today: ‘the Baltic countries never, Poland never’.”

Clément Beaune believes that the Minister of Foreign Affairs “is right to remind us of reality”. In an interview with the Tribune on Sunday, Stéphane Séjourné reiterated this Sunday that between France and Germany, there is “a consensus on 80% of subjects (…) whether on the question of munitions, on the cyber fight, the industrial cooperation that we wish to accelerate, or the protection of countries which are in difficulty like Moldova”. For the remaining 20%, Clément Beaune estimates that “the relationship to war, to intervention, to military support is not the same” between the two countries. The former minister adds that he “well known the Franco-German discussions” and “it’s always difficult”.

Clément Beaune believes, however, that with the Germans, “we are complementary”. The Germans “have decided not to send strike assets, the British and the French are doing so, but they are providing significant civilian support and other forms of military equipment”he explains.