Emmanuel Macron insists. The French president once again assumed the possibility of sending Western troops on the ground to Ukraine, estimating in an interview published Thursday by The Economist that we should “ask the question” if Moscow “was going to break through the front lines” and that kyiv was asking for it.
“If the Russians were to go and break through the front lines, if there was a Ukrainian request – which is not the case today – we should legitimately ask ourselves the question,” the French president said at the British weekly. “To rule it out a priori is to fail to learn the lessons of the last two years,” while NATO countries had initially ruled out sending tanks and planes to Ukraine before finally change your mind, he added.
Several weeks ago, the French head of state’s comments on the potential sending of soldiers to Ukraine caused controversy within the EU. Even recently, Emmanuel Macron declared in an interview with the newspaper The Parisian that “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.”
“Hidden Brexiters”
always in The Economist, Emmanuel Macron detailed his vision for the European Union, a week after his speech at the Sorbonne on the future of Europe. “My message today is simple […] : we must be lucid today about the fact that our Europe is mortal, it can die,” he said last week.
The French president once again warned of the dangers facing Europe, in particular the rise of “nationalists” in Europe, five weeks before the European elections, believing that they were “all” “hidden Brexiters”, who take the continent “hostage” with the same “lying speech”.
“The National Rally wanted to get out of Europe, of the euro, of everything. Now it no longer says anything. It draws dividends from Europe by wanting to destroy it without saying anything,” he declared. “In a way it’s as if we were saying ‘it’s no big deal to entrust the bank to robbers'”, he added, while his camp is for the moment largely behind in the polls by the RN, led by its president Jordan Bardella.