Emmanuel Macron is going to the European Parliament in Strasbourg this Monday, May 9 for the closing of the Conference on the Future of Europe, then to Berlin. Two particularly symbolic trips to celebrate Europe Day against a backdrop of war in Ukraine and while in Russia, Vladimir Putin wants to make parades on May 9, which devote the victory of 1945, a show of force.
At the Élysée, we do not hide it, on this Monday, May 9, there will be two face-to-face images from the two sides of the continent: that of the European leaders gathered in Strasbourg to ” affirm the strength of liberal democracies ” and the one at Vladimir Poutine in Moscow which, according to the president’s entourage, will embody ” a model of historical revisionism that sheds blood on Ukrainian soil “.
Special meaning
In this context, the trip by Emmanuel Macron, who is going to deliver his first European speech in Strasbourg since the start of the war in Ukraine, takes on particular significance, explains Valerie Gas, from the political service of RFI. Especially since it will be followed by the President’s first international trip to Berlin, as promised before the election, as in 2017, to meet Chancellor Scholz and reaffirm the solidity of the Franco-German couple, beyond the crises and elections.
Symbolic
A symbolic day where issues related to the situation in Ukraine, sanctions, European security will be at the heart of discussions. And the hypothesis of a joint trip by Emmanuel Macron and Olaf Scholz in kyiv perhaps mentioned, even if at the Élysée one takes care to recall that such a visit ” is not planned at this stage “.
►To listen: War in Ukraine: “It’s a historic turning point in European construction”