Nearly forty minutes of text explanation. Emmanuel Macron responded to the questions by Anne-Sophie Lapix and Gilles Bouleau on France 2 and TF1, Thursday March 14, about the war in Ukraine (then, quickly, the situation in the Middle East). A little more than two years after the start of the Russian invasion, the head of state reaffirmed France’s support for kyiv and warned of the consequences of a Russian victory. This speech by the Head of State came after his comments on a possible sending of French troops to Ukraine and the signing of a bilateral security agreement with kyiv, followed by a vote by parliamentarians. Here’s what to remember from the interview.
He reaffirms that “all options are possible” regarding sending troops to Ukraine
The Head of State began his interview by returning to the remarks he made on February 27, when he mentioned the potential sending of Western troops to Ukraine. “We are not in escalation, we are not at war with Russia, but we must not let Russia win”he justified. Sending troops is not “not [son] wish”but “all these options are possible”reiterated Emmanuel Macron, insisting on the importance of not “being weak” facing Moscow: “We must (…) say that we are ready to use the means to achieve our objective, which is that Russia does not win”.
Pressed by his interlocutors, he refused to specify which troops could be sent to Ukraine, nor what would be the trigger for such an intervention: “I’m not going to give visibility to someone who doesn’t give it to me. This question should be asked of President Putin. Go ask him where his red lines are.” A position that Emmanuel Macron does not oppose to the search for an end to the conflict: “Wanting peace does not mean choosing defeat, it means being credible.”believes the President of the Republic.
Emmanuel Macron: “Wanting peace is not choosing defeat, it is being credible”
On February 27, he said that “nothing should be excluded”, tout by declaring to assume a “strategic ambiguity” towards Russia. Speaking to franceinfo, Michel Goya, military historian and former colonel of the marine troops, explains that this principle of “strategic ambiguity” consists of “to say that we do not exclude anything, that we do not prohibit ourselves from using certain cards”.
Emmanuel Macron’s unprecedented statement, delivered at the end of an international conference in support of Ukraine organized at the Elysée, caused an outcry in France and other Western countries. “There will be no troops on the ground, no soldiers sent either by European states or by NATO states on Ukrainian soil”responded German Chancellor Olaf Scholz.
He assures that “the lives of the French would change” in the event of Russia’s victory
Justifying the seriousness of his message, Emmanuel Macron presented the war in Ukraine as “existential for our Europe and for France”. “If Russia were to win, the lives of the French would change,” he warned, because “the security of Europe and the French is at stake there”.
“Who can think that President Putin, who has not respected any of his commitments, would stop there ?”questioned the head of state, estimating that if Ukraine fell, many European countries would be threatened. “SIf Russia wins this war, Europe’s credibility would be reduced to zero. he insisted. According to him, “If the war were to spread to Europe, it would be Russia’s only choice and responsibility.” A country that Emmanuel Macron, however, refused to describe as“enemy” : “L“Russia is an adversary”, he replied. “We are not waging war on the Russian people.”
He judges that Vladimir Putin is “caught in a personal drift”
Asked about the Russian president on the eve of the start of the presidential election which takes place from Friday to Sunday, Emmanuel Macron described him as “caught in a personal, repressive and authoritarian drift in his country”. The head of the Kremlin “made the choice to be a destabilizing power in Europe and around the world”, points out the head of state. The President of the Republic, who had carried out mediation work before and at the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, has toughened his tone towards Russian power in two years. In June 2022, he still explained that it was not necessary “humiliate Russia”.
While Vladimir Putin once again brandished the nuclear threatthe President of the Republic considered that the French must “feel particularly protected” by the fact that Paris has atomic weapons: “Nuclear power is not an instrument of destabilization or threat, it is an instrument of security.” France has 290 nuclear warheads, compared to 5,000 for the United States and 5,880 for Russia.
He does not rule out a possible use of loans to finance support for kyiv
Emmanuel Macron does not rule out possible recourse to loans to finance support for kyiv “if the needs were to be greater”. Estonia notably proposed joint loans of up to 100 billion euros, to strengthen the European defense apparatus and further support Ukraine.
The head of state, who called from 2022 to “an entry into a war economy”regretted that France did not “a defense industry adapted to a high-intensity territorial war”. “Since the beginning, we have more than tripled our production of categories of shells and missiles that are relevant to the Ukrainians. Simply, in fact, we have limits and this is true of all European countries (…) This is why we decided that we were going to create them in Ukraine, because it is closer to the ground“, he conceded.
Ukraine lacks equipment along the front line. In terms of ammunition, “the shortage is getting worse day by day”, alerted Ukrainian Defense Minister Rustem Umerov at the start of the year. NATO countries do not give “not enough ammo” to Ukraine, and this has “consequences every day on the battlefield”alerted the Secretary General of the Atlantic Alliance, Jens Stoltenberg, on Thursday.
He accuses the RN and LFI of “choosing defeat” by not voting in support of Ukraine
“Choosing to abstain or vote against support for Ukraine is not choosing peace, it is choosing defeat,” judged Emmanuel Macron then the deputies, Tuesday, then the senators, Wednesday, voted in favor of a bilateral agreement with kyiv after a debate. Without naming them, the Head of State targeted, with his remark, the National Rally, whose deputies abstained during the vote in the National Assembly, and La France insoumise, which voted against, like the communists. “This is not serious, believes Emmanuel Macron. Our responsibility is to be strong for peace, to maintain this European unity.”
The bilateral security agreement between France and Ukraine, signed on February 16 in Paris during the visit of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, plans up to “up to 3 billion euros” military aid in 2024. It must guarantee long-term civil and military support for Kiev, while the Ukrainian army is experiencing significant difficulties on the ground facing Russia, and fears American disengagement in the event of an election of Donald Trump.
He calls on Israel to “respect international law”
In the last minutes of this long interview, Emmanuel Macron was questioned about the situation in the Gaza Strip, where Israel continues its offensive against Hamas at the cost of numerous deaths. The President of the Republic recalled that France clearly condemned “the attack” of October 7, and called on the Jewish state to “respect humanitarian law, the law of war, international law”. He also stressed that he had never affirmed that Israel had a right “absolute” to defend itself, and reiterated its support for the two-state solution in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Emmanuel Macron recalled that France still counted “trois hostages” detained in Gaza, ensuring that “LThe discussions aren course” for their release, but that “only families are informed”. Their liberation is “essential for us, and I hope that beyond the French hostages, all the Israeli hostages and those around the world will be released”concluded the head of state.