Europe 1 with AFP 9:13 p.m., March 6, 2024

French Prime Minister Gabriel Attal on Wednesday from The Hague accused the far right in France, the favorite in the European elections, of "supporting Russia more than Ukraine".

Asked about the possibility of sending soldiers to Ukraine recently mentioned by French President Emmanuel Macron, he said "see the exploitation that certain political forces seek to make of it" and "in particular the extreme right and the Rally national".

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“If they use these remarks to attack us, it is quite simply because they themselves have not changed their agenda, which is to support Russia more than Ukraine,” added the head of the French government.

He was speaking at a press conference following a meeting with his Dutch counterpart and ally Mark Rutte.

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Gabriel Attal recalled that Marine Le Pen, in her program for the 2022 presidential election, envisaged “military cooperation with Russia”.

If Marine Le Pen had been elected president, "we would not be discussing additional equipment to provide to the Ukrainians" but "our support would rather be on the side of Russia today."

Referring to the European election in June, he pleaded for a "powerful" and "sovereign Europe" which "makes nations strong and people free" which he opposed to a "Europe folded in on itself and therefore dismantled, powerless " and which "decomposes".

“It’s what we both defend”, France and the Netherlands, he argued.

Attal on European diplomacy

Gabriel Attal and Rutte were to speak again with their delegations after the press conference before having dinner together.

This is Gabriel Attal's second visit abroad since his arrival in Matignon at the beginning of January.

He had booked his first visit outside France to Chancellor Olaf Scholz in Berlin on February 5.

He had placed this trip to Berlin under the sign of the "Franco-German upsurge", convinced that the two countries must overcome their "difficult times" to block the "populists" and the extremes.