It was a text deposited for the three years of the war in Ukraine, but which took a completely different meaning in view of the current geopolitical context. The National Assembly examines this Wednesday, March 11, a resolution proposal “calling for strengthening support for Ukraine”. At a time when the United States disengaged from Ukraine and Donald Trump does not fail to underline his proximity to Vladimir Putin, this text should make it possible to reaffirm the position of French deputies at a time when Europe seeks to weigh on the course of history.
Concretely, 31 recommendations appear in the text of the resolution which will be debated this Wednesday in the Assembly. Among these, we find expectations, such as the condemnation of “the war of illegal, not provoked and unjustified” of Russia against Ukraine, “war crimes and crimes against humanity committed since February 2022 by Russian forces” or “deportations and illegal transfers of Ukrainian children to Russia”.
Apart from the borders of Ukraine, the proposal for a resolution also condemns “the hybrid attacks carried out by Russia against the member states of the European Union in the form of cyber attacks, corruption and disinformation or propaganda campaigns” or “Russian interference in the democratic processes of the European Union and in those of its neighborhood, in particular in Moldovan, Georgian and Romanian elections”.
Russian assets frozen at the heart of the debates
But other much more burning themes in the news are also in this text. Starting with the question of the use of frozen Russian assets: while so far, only the profits generated by the latter are mobilized in the war effort against Russia, several votes have come up in recent weeks so that they are fully used to help Ukraine. As it stands, the resolution “invites the European Union and its member states to now use the Russian and immobilized Russian assets, as well as the interests generated by the latter, to support the Ukrainian resistance and the reconstruction of Ukraine”.
But this proposal could be brought to evolve. Thus, an amendment co -signed by only three deputies of the macronist group together for the Republic (EPR), but including its President Gabriel Attal, even offers to go further using these assets to “strengthen the defense capacities of Europe”. The president of Horizons Edouard Philippe had estimated that the frozen assets, evaluated at around 235 billion euros, were to be “completely made available” of the Ukrainian war effort. In the Modem, the deputy Erwan Balanant, himself hostile to the measure, said he did not believe that there is a majority in the Assembly in favor of the confiscation of assets, while the RN and France rebellious in particular have said they were unfavorable.
At the level of the government itself, the position seems so far quite vague. While the executive officially said he was opposed to such a measure, the Minister of Economy Eric Lombard stressing that she could threaten the financial stability of Europe, Prime Minister François Bayrou was much more elusive on Tuesday during questions to the government. The latter thus returned the debate to Brussels, believing that “using the assets themselves, it cannot be thought that within the framework of the European Union”.
“Facilitate the membership process of Ukraine” in the EU
Among the other proposals that appear in this text, the resolution invites in particular “the European Union and its member states to facilitate the membership process of Ukraine to the Union and to ensure that it leads as soon as possible”, or still calls on the “government of the United States of America to continue and to strengthen American aid to Ukraine, in particular military”.
On more economical themes, the resolution also proposes that the EU member states “end in the shortest time to imports from Russian fossil fuels”, and that the EU “strengthens financial, energetic, technological and individual sanctions taken since February 2022” while fighting more against their bypass. Finally, it invites the European Union to “continue its effort to increase its armaments and ammunition production capacities, both to strengthen help from Ukraine and to consolidate its own strategic autonomy”, at a time when the United States of Donald Trump has weighing on NATO a quasi-existential threat.
The RN will not vote for resolution
Beyond the different proposals, it is also the content of the debates in the Assembly as well as the positions of the different political camps which is eagerly awaited. For Harold Huwart, MP Liot on the initiative of this resolution, this text must be “a moment of affirmation of the Parliament”, but also allow “to bring down a certain number of masks […] At the ends of the hemicycle “, where” the positions on the Ukrainian question seem quite fragile and marked by the strong influence of Russia “.
Thus, the national rally has already announced that it would not vote for this resolution. Marine Le Pen declared this Tuesday that “we will not force it to vote a text in which we ask the entry of Ukraine into the European Union”, one of the 31 recommendations of the resolution. “I know the technique […]. That is to say, we make a good resolution ‘Support for Ukraine’ and inside, you are slipped a whole series of things which we know very well that you are fundamentally opposed, hoping to be able to force you to vote it, “said the leader of RN deputies in the National Assembly.
The vote of the deputies of rebellious France, on the other hand, is currently always unknown. If the latter firmly opposed the use of frozen Russian assets, the voting in committee of one of their amendments calling for “the organization, under the aegis of the United Nations, of an international conference for peace including all stakeholders, in order to explore the conditions of a cease-fire and a negotiated resolution of the conflict” could change their vote.