Emmanuel Macron, rather than being able to use the Ukrainian crisis for campaign purposes, on the contrary takes
“an electoral risk”
by wanting to establish a dialogue with Moscow, estimated his former Prime Minister Édouard Philippe on Tuesday.
“I sometimes hear him being criticized in France on the subject: he is using this moment of international tension to campaign.
The real truth is that the President of the Republic at the moment, he is taking an electoral risk because, to discuss with the Russians, it is always better to be strong.
And being a campaign candidate for a Russian is never being strong
,” said the mayor of Le Havre on France 5.
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“By going to see Putin (…), he puts himself in a situation where the Russians can hurt him electorally. He is a thousand times right to seize the circumstances but he is taking a risk”
, added the president of the Horizons party, support of Emmanuel Macron who has not yet formalized his candidacy for the presidential election in April.
According to the former head of government, it has happened to Russian leaders,
"when they wanted to serve the interests of a foreign leader, to humiliate him"
.
According to him, this was "not at all the case" on Monday during Mr. Macron's reception by Vladimir Putin in the Kremlin, even if the face-to-face was
"tough"
and their press conference could be considered
“chilling”
, estimated Édouard Philippe.
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"I'm not saying that the problem is solved, far from it", but "the president has been in his role"
and has
"rather served the interests of France and the European Union"
, he said. further added, assuring that with
"our Russian friends, weakness, kindness and voluntary submission"
are
"of no help whatsoever"
and that we must
"be firm"
in the face of them.
While Westerners fear a Russian invasion in Ukraine, Emmanuel Macron was in Berlin on Tuesday evening to meet Chancellor Olaf Scholz there after speaking with his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky during the day in Kiev, the day after his trip to Moscow.