The prospect of a Russian incursion into Ukraine offers candidates the opportunity to question the diplomatic record of the five-year term – overall France’s place in the world – and the orientations taken within the framework of the French presidency of the European Union. , like the idea of a “powerful Europe”.
It is unsurprisingly among the nationalist candidates that the criticism is the most virulent. “Europe is a diplomatic dwarf, the Russians and the United States don’t give a damn about us”, asserts for example a member of Eric Zemmour’s team. Around Marine Le Pen, we judge that “France plays in the second division, because it is excluded from direct negotiations between the two great powers.” “The Russians have understood that Germany remains the real boss of Europe”, criticizes MEP RN Thierry Mariani.
For the rebels, the Ukrainian crisis highlights what they call “Emmanuel Macron’s megaphone diplomacy : big announcements that only have domestic political effects.” “Emmanuel Macron will not avoid war, slips an adviser, if the United States decides to go, they will go, whether Macron wants it or not.”
>>> “The voice of France is absent on the Ukrainian crisis”, according to Fabien Roussel
Supporters of Valérie Pécresse compare the management of the Ukrainian crisis by Emmanuel Macron to that of the Georgian crisis in 2008, under Nicolas Sarkozy, a time when France also held the presidency of the EU. A minister at the time laughs at the phone call scheduled today between Emmanuel Macron and Vladimir Poutine. “In 2008, recalls the same, Sarkozy jumped on his plane to land in Georgia and bring peace.”
On the one hand, this threat to Europe’s borders is seen as an opportunity to further deepen the idea that one does not improvise oneself as president. That international crises require a stature and a leadership that the Head of State endorses, in fact, more easily than a candidate in the campaign.
On the other hand, fears are expressed, precisely because of the French presidency of the EU. “This is where we say hats off to the artist or not, explains a heavyweight, but this presidency exposes him more than anything else, because if anything happens, it’s for him. People will say to themselves: he is the leader of Europe.” So what happens is his fault.
One point makes everyone agree: the impact of the sequence on the presidential campaign will be almost nil. “Europe does not interest the French”, according to a right-wing campaign manager.
“It’s not on this that we win or lose a presidential election.”
A left-wing adviserat franceinfo
“International issues, public opinion doesn’t care”, adds a macronist. Zero political impact. Reason why the candidates do not intend to do too much on the subject. “If there are things to say, we will say them, explain your around Jean-Luc Mélenchon. But we are not going to embark on a campaign on Ukraine.”