International, defense… Silent on domestic politics, Emmanuel Macron refocuses on his reserved domain

The president is expected on Wednesday at a military camp in the Grand-Est to meet Ukrainian soldiers trained in France. A visit which confirms the new role of Emmanuel Macron since the constitution of the government.

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Emmanuel Macron, October 7, 2024 at the Élysée. (TERESA SUAREZ / POOL / EPA POOL)

He promises that France will continue to do everything to ensure that Ukraine stands firm. Emmanuel Macron is going to a military camp in the Grand-Est on Wednesday, October 9, where the head of state will meet for the first time Ukrainian soldiers trained on our soil, soldiers from brigade 155 ready soon, “in a few months”, said the Élysée, to go back into battle. The president is still getting to grips with his “new role”.

It is a military camp placed under very high security. The Élysée even refuses to give its exact location. 2,300 Ukrainian soldiers are trained here in the handling of weapons and combat tactics in an incessant din: simulation of explosions, drone flights… Stress is pushed to its peak, this is the setting and the playground for a president confined to his new role, absent from the political landscape.

“Since the government was formed, it has been radio silence,” a minister pretends to be surprised. Emmanuel Macron withdrawn into his reserved domain, the international. His request to stop arms deliveries to Israel still earned him whistles from the Representative Council of Jewish Institutions of France (Crif) on Monday evening. The president is also focused on defense, obviously. France will send Mirage 2000 fighter jets to Ukraine in the first quarter of 2025.

The Élysée boasts a “more fluid and regular dialogue” than ever with his counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky. “The president must concentrate on his missions”, swears a member of the government, “this is where he still has a chance of being listened to.”


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