(Paris) French President Emmanuel Macron showed total support for Ukraine on Thursday, ensuring that he was ready to make “all decisions” if the situation deteriorated for Kyiv so that “Russia never wins”, three months from now. European elections where his camp is in difficulty.
The war in Ukraine is “existential for our Europe and for France”, insisted the French head of state during a live interview on the two main evening television news shows. “If Russia wins this war, Europe’s credibility will be reduced to zero. »
The presidential majority has planned to focus its campaign on support for Kyiv, accusing the National Rally (RN, far right), which is ahead of it by around 10 points in the opinion polls for the European elections, of maintaining pro-Russian positions. .
A divide already at the heart of the 2022 presidential election – which Emmanuel Macron won against RN candidate Marine Le Pen – before fading.
The “security” of the French requires the “defeat of Russia” in Ukraine, affirmed Mr. Macron, estimating that those who place “limits” on support for Ukraine “are choosing defeat” in the face of to the Russian “adversary”.
“If the situation deteriorates” in Ukraine, “we must be ready and we will be ready to take the necessary decisions so that Russia never wins,” he asserted.
However, no concrete announcement accompanied this interview.
Questioned about his controversial statements at the end of February regarding the possible sending of troops to Ukraine, Mr. Macron moderated his remarks somewhat, while 68% of French people consider that he was wrong to display this position, according to a poll produced at the end of February for the newspaper Le Figaro.
“We will never lead an offensive, we will never take the initiative,” said Mr. Macron on Thursday, for whom the West has so far put “too many limits” in their “vocabulary”, ensuring that they would “never” send tanks or medium-range missiles to Kyiv, before crossing these red lines.
“Control escalation”
By speaking of a hypothetical military engagement, the French president is trying to “reverse the logic” against Moscow, explained the Polish Minister of Foreign Affairs, Radoslaw Sikorski, in an interview published Thursday afternoon by the daily Ouest-France.
Instead of always telling Putin what we’re not going to do, which gives him the freedom to turn the confrontation to his advantage, we need to tell him, really, that we might do something he doesn’t expect. . This is a way to control the terms of escalation.
Emmanuel Macron, President of France
“Today, we must act to prevent harmful events from happening. For this, we must anticipate,” said the French Chief of Staff of the French Armed Forces, Thierry Burkhard, during a strategic forum on Thursday. “The risk of inaction is even more serious,” he added.
On Monday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky also wanted to be reassuring: “Your children are not going to die in Ukraine,” he said during an interview with French media.
The next day, the National Assembly gave broad support to the bilateral security agreement between Paris and Kyiv, confirmed by the Senate on Wednesday. Despite the abstention of the RN and the opposition of the radical left, who denounce Emmanuel Macron’s “go to war” speeches.
PHOTO GUILLAUME SOUVANT, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
French Prime Minister, Gabriel Attal
Two years after the start of the Russian offensive, on February 24, 2022, a success for Vladimir Putin would be a “cataclysm” for “purchasing power”, Prime Minister Gabriel Attal insisted to parliamentarians, when a certain weariness opinions are felt on the subject.
At the beginning of March, 39% of French people (-11 points compared to June 2023) considered that France should continue to financially support Ukraine, as it currently does, according to an Elabe poll for La Tribune.
Same trend regarding military support, with 79% also opposing the sending of combat troops on the ground and even 47% opposing that of trainers.
“We must feel particularly protected because we are precisely this power equipped” with the atomic bomb, said Emmanuel Macron, in the face of the permanent threats of a nuclear conflict stirred up by Vladimir Putin.
” We are ready. We have a doctrine that is established,” he added, while evoking the French “responsibility” of “never escalating.”