Before the debates planned in the National Assembly and the Senate on Tuesday March 12 and Wednesday March 13, the President of the Republic, Emmanuel Macron, received party leaders on Thursday March 6 in the morning to discuss the situation in Ukraine. This meeting – on the “Saint-Denis format” – comes after the declarations of the Head of State “not excluding” the sending of “ground troops” in the Ukrainian conflict.
“I think it will clarify” the positions, Mr. Macron told a few journalists on Tuesday on the sidelines of a trip to Prague, referring to this meeting. Especially since his statements had caused embarrassment among France's allies and strong criticism among his opponents.
On his arrival at the Elysée, the coordinator of La France insoumise, Manuel Bompard, thus “invited” Mr. Macron “to be a little more measured”, deploring a speech which, according to him, “discredited”, “isolated » and “weakened” France.
The boss of the socialists Olivier Faure, for his part, accused the head of state of having achieved “the unity of all” Westerners “against France” and offered “unprecedented clarity” to Russian President Vladimir Putin on the fact “that none of these countries want to commit ground troops.” “It’s really a problem of amateurism at this stage,” added the head of the Ecologists Marine Tondelier, referring to a “virilist declaration”.
“The less we say, the better we act.”
After speaking with Mr. Macron on Wednesday evening at the Elysée, former socialist president François Hollande called for not altering “the unity of Europe,” while defending “[his] position on the issues military: the less we say, the better we act. “Not saying what you do, but doing what you haven’t said. This is what allows us to be most effective,” he judged, after being questioned about the declarations of the Head of State.
For its part, the National Rally, through its president Jordan Bardella, considered that Mr. Macron had played “into the hands of the Kremlin” by “bringing Europe’s divisions into broad daylight”. Three months before the European elections scheduled for June 9, the presidential camp accepts this divide with the far right on the Ukrainian question, wishing to show the complacency of the RN vis-à-vis Vladimir Putin.
“Don’t let nationalisms in. They were already war, they are now defeat against Russia,” Mr. Macron said to his ministers on Wednesday. Traveling to The Hague, Prime Minister Gabriel Attal once again accused the RN on Wednesday of “supporting Russia more than Ukraine”.
