As of: March 9, 2024, 6:49 a.m
By: Tadhg Nagel
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Emmanuel Macron first names a concrete scenario for the use of ground troops.
The opposition rejects this – as does the military minister.
Paris – French President Emmanuel Macron has reaffirmed his position on sending troops to the Ukraine war.
On the other hand, the French military minister does not believe in such a plan and contradicts the president - as does the French opposition.
Emmanuel Macron no longer rules out the use of ground troops in Ukraine - and is met with opposition.
© IMAGO/Eliot Blondet / Christian Liewig / Pool / Bestimage
On February 26, at an international conference of heads of state and government in Paris, Macron described the deployment of ground troops as “not ruled out” for the first time.
Most of Kiev's allies had distanced themselves from this position, as had the opposition in France.
However, about a week later, on Tuesday (February 5), the French president followed up during a visit to Prague.
“We are certainly approaching a moment for Europe in which it will be necessary not to be a coward,” said Macron - a statement that is seen by many as a swipe at Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD).
An advance of the front “towards Odessa or Kiev” - Macron names a concrete scenario for deployment
Macron has now apparently reaffirmed his position.
For the first time he named a scenario that could lead to such an intervention in the war.
On Thursday afternoon (February 7), Emmanuel Macron received the leaders of French parties to redefine the country's line in support of Ukraine.
This is what the French newspaper
L'independant
writes .
Fabien Roussel of the French Communist Party told the paper that the president had spoken about the scenario “that could initiate an intervention”: an advance of the front “toward Odessa or Kiev.”
Macron even backed this up with a map, said Roussel.
“There is no border and no red line,” concluded Jordan Bardella from the Rassemblement National, summing up the mood of the opposition.
Manuel Bompard from the left-wing populist party La France insoumise reiterated these concerns.
“I arrived worried and came out more worried,” Bompard said, according to
L'independant.
Have all other options been exhausted in the Ukraine war?
- It's not just the opposition that contradicts Macron
But it's not just the opposition that has concerns; French Military Minister Sébastien Lecornu also made it clear on Friday that he was skeptical about sending French soldiers.
Speaking to the BFMTV
portal
, Lecornu doubted that alternative options had already been sufficiently exhausted.
“Have we tried everything between the arms transfer as we know it today and the transition to the status of a belligerent power, that is, direct war with Russia?” asked the military minister.
In any case, initially there is no question of sending “fighting ground troops” to Ukraine.
Lecornu showed several possible paths and spoke of “schemes of military presence for demining, the training of Ukrainian soldiers on Ukrainian soil.”
At the same time, he pointed out that the situation has changed significantly in the last two years.
The results of the Ukrainian “counteroffensive”, the murder of the Russian opposition politician Alexei Navalny, “the threats that Russia poses to all European democracies”, with “particularly aggressive interactions in the cyber domain”, or “the US military aid blocked in Congress”, All of them must be taken into account when weighing up, the military minister continued.
Putin “won’t stop” - A “proportionate response in the face of Russia’s toughening”?
According to Lecornu, with his statement that there was “no consensus” but that “nothing should be ruled out on principle,” the French president was, according to Lecornu, simply reacting to the Slovenian position that stationing ground troops in Ukraine was out of the question.
However, one must first concentrate on the proposals that are already a consensus - for example the production of weapons and ammunition on Ukrainian territory and “cyber defense”.
However, there is also support for Macron's proposal in France.
“The president's position is one of a proportionate response in the face of Russia's aggravation, without any escalation,” said those around the president, according to
BFMTV
, on the sidelines of the meeting on Thursday (February 7).
The newly appointed French European Minister, Jean-Noël Barrot, also reiterated Macron's demand, as
France 24
reports.
He believes that Europe must slow down Vladimir Putin before he pushes his military advance further into Europe.
“Vladimir Putin will not stop in Ukraine and that is why we have to make him fail,” Barrot continued.
(tpn)