It is a vote with no binding value, but which highlights the political differences in the National Assembly. On Tuesday March 12, MPs approved the security agreement signed in February between France and Ukraine. Broad support despite the abstention of the RN and the opposition of LFI and the communists.
After long debates, 372 deputies voted for and 99 against, announced the President of the National Assembly Yaël Braun-Pivet in the evening after the vote.
“We do not exclude any option in principle” against Russia
A little earlier in the day, Prime Minister Gabriel Attal was the first to speak from the podium to present the security agreement with kyiv in detail to deputies. “We are at a tipping point” in the conflict between Moscow and kyiv, said Gabriel Attal, hailing in passing the “resistance of the Ukrainian people (which) has been and remains exceptional”.
The head of government continued by affirming that “the message from the President of the Republic was very clear: we will not abandon Ukraine and we do not exclude in principle any option. We are part of a considered framework to reaffirm our support for Ukraine, but without waging war on Russia and refusing any logic of escalation.”
“Support for Ukraine means recognizing that it fights every day for our values and that it is part of the European family” because “this war is a long-term one. A war of position is is now playing and for Russia, time is now an ally. It is counting on the weariness of Ukraine’s allies”, assured the head of government, who also affirmed that a victory for Russia in Ukraine would have ” concrete, tangible risks” on “the daily lives of the French” and “would be a cataclysm for (their) purchasing power”.
“Either we are pro-Macron, or we are accused of being pro-Putin”
During her speech at the National Assembly, Marine Le Pen responded sharply to Gabriel Attal. “Either we are pro-Macron, or we are accused of being pro-Putin,” she said, while the majority clearly stepped up their attacks on the National Rally in the run-up to the European elections. “You have […] diverted, exploited and instrumentalized a major international crisis to put it at the service of a short-term electoral agenda”, further lamented the president of the RN group.
As for the other political groups, the representative of La France insoumise Arnaud Le Gall denounced a “sham” of debate, which “does not commit the government to anything” and which “is not up to the situation”. while LFI will vote against the agreement. “You are asking us to sign a blank check after the irresponsible war-war declarations of the head of state, head of the army? We cannot accept it,” he declared.
The leader of the PS deputies Boris Vallaud assured that the elected socialists “are once again expressing their support for Ukraine, for Ukrainian democracy, for respect for international law, for peace” by voting in favor of this agreement. While ensuring “not to sign any blank cheques” and demanding from the government more regular consultation of Parliament on these issues