Emmanuel Macron said Thursday that Europe must be ready to respond to an escalation led, according to him, by Russia, but without ever taking the initiative in military combat against this nuclear power.
“We will never lead an offensive, we will never take the initiative. France is a force for peace,” declared the head of state on the 8 p.m. television news on TF1 and France 2.
He thus intended to reassure after having sowed trouble, in public opinion and among kyiv’s other allies, by judging at the end of February that the sending, in the future, of Western soldiers to Ukraine should not be ruled out.
>> To watch: Sending Western ground troops to Ukraine should not “be ruled out” says Emmanuel Macron
A criticized posture
This new posture of the president, who denounces a hardening of Moscow and tries to impose his leadership in aid to the Ukrainian army, has been criticized by numerous European counterparts and by all of his French opponents.
>> Listen to details from our correspondent in France: Reactions are flowing after Emmanuel Macron’s declaration on the sending of Western troops to Ukraine / 12:30 p.m. / 1 min. / February 27, 2024
According to an Elabe poll for La Tribune, opinion is not left out: 79% of those questioned are opposed to sending combat troops on the ground and even 47% to that of trainers.
“We have to be ready”
Addressing the French directly through this interview, Emmanuel Macron, however, once again assumed his position.
“If Russia were to win, we will no longer have security and Europe’s credibility will be reduced to zero,” he said. “We have one objective: Russia cannot and must not win this war, which is existential for our Europe and for France,” he insisted.
“We have put too many limits, if I may say so, in our vocabulary,” explained Emmanuel Macron, recalling that the West had said, after the Russian invasion of Ukraine two years ago, that they would not would never send tanks or medium-range missiles to kyiv, before crossing these red lines in the face of the evolution of the conflict.
“If the situation were to deteriorate, we must be ready and we will be ready,” he insisted. “There is an escalation on the part of Russia and we must say that we are ready to respond.”
No limit to support for Ukraine
He therefore affirmed that those who place limits on their support for Ukraine, faced with a Vladimir Putin who has “crossed all limits”, decide “to be weak” and “do not choose peace , but choose defeat.”
He specified that he was targeting both those who, this week in the French Parliament, abstained (the National Rally) or voted against (La France insoumise and the communists) the bilateral security agreement with Ukraine. But also those who, elsewhere in Europe, invoke these limits.
A clarification which risks being freshly received on Friday in Berlin, where the French president is going to try to ease tensions with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, which have increased tenfold in recent weeks around this issue.
The two leaders will meet face-to-face, before a three-way summit also including Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk.
Emmanuel Macron tried to calm the outcry caused by his statements on a possible sending of troops to Ukraine