“We cannot collectively run the risk of seeing the specter of confrontation return to Europe,” Emmanuel Macron said at a joint press conference with Vladimir Putin.
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“It’s a moment of intense, deep relief”reacted Monday, February 7 on franceinfo Bernard Guetta, MEP of the Renaissance group, after the long interview between Emmanuel Macron and Vladimir Putin which was held in Moscow to resolve the Ukrainian crisis.
>> LIVE. Crisis in Ukraine: “The next few days will be decisive”, says Emmanuel Macron after his meeting with Vladimir Putin
“It’s a long period of diplomatic negotiations” which opens, “not only on Ukraine and security in Europe, but also on subjects as diverse as Nagorny-Karabakh or Iran”, emphasizes Bernard Guetta. Those are “all the problems between Westerners and Russia” that the Russian and French presidents have “decided to put on the table”. With this diplomatic period opening up, “the corollary is that the possibility of a conflict is moving away”. The MEP admits that there may be “slippages” and “it does not work”but he stressed that the two Heads of State had clearly expressed their “willingness to take the time necessary” begining with “the settlement of the question of Eastern Ukraine.”
For Bernard Guetta, “Emmanuel Macron was, in Moscow this afternoon, the representative of all Europeans and of the two shores of the Atlantic”. He recalls that the French President had a meeting, before going to Moscow, “with our main American and European allies.”
“He was the bearer of a common line, of common hope, of common proposals and openness. It’s really a capital moment.”
Bernard Guetta, MEP from the Renaissance groupat franceinfo
The MEP does not claim that “trust be restored” Monday evening between the two presidents. “But at least we decided to work on restoring trust and that’s fundamental.” Bernard Guetta found “something reassuring in the attitude” of Vladimir Putin during the press conference. “He never stopped repeating, useful discussion, interesting idea from France, idea on which we could build, desire to make an international overview of the major crises which bring Russia and the West face to face.” The MEP sees “music that was reassuring”. But Bernard Guetta nuance: “Let the man be reassuring, let me say no, the man is not reassuring.”