The President of the Republic spoke again, in an interview with “Parisien”, on Saturday, on the possibility of launching military operations on Ukrainian territory.
“Perhaps at some point – I don’t want it, I won’t take the initiative – it will be necessary to have operations on the ground, whatever they may be, to counter the Russian forces. of France is that we can do it.” There is an air of “already heard” in the words of Emmanuel Macron, published on Saturday March 16 in The Parisian, about the war in Ukraine. In this interview conducted on the plane which brought him back from Berlin on Friday, Emmanuel Macron therefore reiterated and supported his explanations, initially delivered on February 26, lors of a press conference at the Elysée. There’s was already questioned about sending ground troops.
“There is no consensus today to send ground troops in an official, assumed and endorsed manner. But dynamically, nothing must be excluded. We will do everything necessary to ensure that Russia cannot not win this war”, he declared that day. These remarks provoke 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”reacts the German Chancellor, Olaf Scholz.
“He’s absolutely right.”
Faced with the disturbance caused by this declaration, Emmanuel Macron chose to speak out, on March 14, in a long television interview broadcast on TF1 and France 2. “We are not escalating, we are not at war with Russia, but we must not let Russia win.”he justifies. Sending troops is not “not [son] wish”but “all these options are possible”, repeathe head of state, insisting on the importance of not “being weak” facing Moscow.
Basically, and in the presidential camp, we applaud. “He’s absolutely right.reacts Benjamin Haddad, Renaissance MP, specialist in international issues. For two years we have collectively spent our time setting limits for ourselves and communicating them to the adversary while he [Vladimir Poutine] has none.”
“You don’t gain a balance of power by tying your hands behind your back.”
Benjamin Haddad, Renaissance MPat franceinfo
“Perhaps we were not aware of the increasing severity of the crisis and its worsening with a different context in kyiv, Moscow and Washingtonsupports Renaissance MP Mathieu Lefèvre. Faced with this, it is quite normal for Paris to react.” The presidential speech also changed slightly between February 14 and March 16, since we went from “nothing should be excluded” has “maybe“that he “will have to have operations on the ground”. “We can play on words, but there is no substantive difference, ssupports Renaissance MP Antoine Armand. The goal remains the same: in the face of imperialism and Putin’s aggression, defending European security also means showing that Europe will not abandon Ukraine.”
“He repeats it so that the idea sticks”
Why such insistence? By speaking on several occasions, Emmanuel Macron first seeks to clarify his first statements. “He came out of the woods in a surprising way on February 26, that required explanations”notes Gaspard Gantzer, former communications advisor to François Hollande. “The head of state is chasing timesupports political scientist Bruno Cautres. Everyone had learned from his first speech that there could one day be French soldiers in Ukraine. French opinion is not in favor of it and this declaration had an extremely high anxiety-provoking potential. It was therefore a matter of euphemizing his speech without second-guessing himself, by hammering home the idea that sending ground troops would not be our initiative.”
“The head of state is trying to reimpose a second narrative by saying that we will not take the initiative, but I think it is too late. People have remembered: ‘he is going to wage war on Russia. ‘ It’s not recoverable, because it’s too striking.”
Bruno Cautres, political scientistat franceinfo
By reiterating his remarks, Emmanuel Macron also aims at three targets: Vladimir Putin, European allies and French public opinion, analyzes Gaspard Gantzer. “He knows that communication is like pedagogy. The best way to raise awareness of things is repetition,” delivers the former advisor to François Hollande. However, the French are not in the same state of mind as two years ago, when the Russian attack in Ukraine created among them “amazement, empathy and emotion”. From, “public opinion has moved on to something else, the French are far from all that”, continues this expert. For Benjamin Haddad, Emmanuel Macron seeks to “raise awareness among the French of the seriousness of the situation and the intensification of the Russian threat.”
The message is also intended for the master of the Kremlin, according to Gaspard Gantzer: “We remain in strategic ambiguity [ce principe qui consiste à entretenir le flou sur la nature de la riposte]. It’s deterrence.” The president did not detail what the different scenarios of sending French troops on the ground would be. “We are entering the most difficult period with the arrival of spring, where we fear a Russian offensive”also notes Jean-Pierre Maulny, ddeputy director of the Institute of International and Strategic Relations (Iris). “However, the weapons arriving in Ukraine are insufficient, hence Emmanuel Macron’s wish to appear dissuasive. EWill this prevent Putin from launching a spring offensive? I doubt“admits the geopolitics expert.
“Taking the lead in European defense”
Finally, Emmanuel Macron also hammers home his remarks to his European partners. “I“puts pressure on the entire EU to push its members to better support Ukraine in its defense”defends Renaissance MP Ludovic Mendes. “Many countries in Europe, and not the least, are on our line”also affirmed the head of state at the Parisian. “The goal of this trip to Berlin was to send the message to Russia that France is not isolated”, deciphers Bruno Cautres. And this, in order “to take the lead in European defense, continues Jean-Pierre Maulny. His message is addressed to the Poles, the Balts, etc., to say that the Germans cannot take this lead, because they do not have the strategic military culture.”
Comments which also come in the middle of the European campaign, which the French opposition did not fail to denounce. She sees this as an instrumentalization of the conflict for electoral purposes. “We can clearly see the little scenario that is taking shape: the President of the Republic is the warlord in a duel that he is setting up against the National Rally”denounced for example the boss of LR, Eric Ciotti, on March 5, on franceinfo.
“It is normal to make it a subject for the Europeans and for us to ask the question regarding Russia, but for the moment, it is not working, it is not popular with the French”, analyzes Gaspard Gantzer. The presidential camp, which has made the Ukrainian conflict an axis of its campaign strategy, is increasingly left behind by the RN of Jordan Bardella, given 31% against 18% for the head of the Renaissance list Valérie Hayer, in a poll Ipsos for The world from March 11. “Ukraine is not going to bring people to Macron”a minister at France Télévisions admitted on Friday.