Emmanuel Macron affirmed Thursday March 7 that there was "no limit" or "red line" to France's support for Ukraine, opposition leaders reported, denouncing an "irresponsible" posture.

“Faced with an enemy who sets no limits, we cannot allow ourselves to formulate any,” the president told the leaders of the parties represented in Parliament, meeting for 2.5 hours behind closed doors at the Élysée.

He thus once again fully assumed his comments of February 26, when he affirmed that the sending of ground troops to Ukraine in the future should not "be excluded", in the name of a "strategic ambiguity ".

Most of kyiv's other allies had distanced themselves from this position, as had opponents in France.

As for the Kremlin, it accused the French president of "increasing the level of direct involvement of France" in the conflict.

“Emmanuel Macron is convinced of his policy of wanting to inflict a strategic defeat on our country and he continues to increase the level of direct involvement of France” in Ukraine, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitri Peskov said in a video broadcast on Telegram by a Russian journalist.

“I arrived worried and I left more worried,” summarized the coordinator of La France insoumise, Manuel Bompard, to the press at the end of the Elysee meeting.

According to him, the head of state explained that "it was necessary to support Ukraine 'whatever it costs'".

Emmanuel Macron's statements are dangerous.

They put us at risk of escalation with a nuclear power.



They were counterproductive: the refusals expressed by our allies to send troops to Ukraine did not create strategic ambiguity,… pic.twitter.com/Wa0I7vMPRh

— Manuel Bompard (@mbompard) March 7, 2024

“There are no limits and no red lines,” also lamented the leader of the National Rally, Jordan Bardella.

“Unwavering support”

According to the boss of the communists Fabien Roussel, Emmanuel Macron has notably outlined, with a supporting map, the scenario of an advance of the front "towards Odessa or towards Kiev", "which could initiate an intervention" to stop Russia.

“It’s really a problem of amateurism at this stage,” added the head of the Ecologists, Marine Tondelier, referring to a “virilist declaration”.

The president's entourage reaffirmed that he did not want an "escalation", and mentioned "contradictions" among the opponents.

All political forces all pleaded on Thursday for “unwavering support for Ukraine”, he reported.

“This means that we must not fail Ukraine and do everything possible to ensure that Russia does not win. And therefore exclude nothing,” added an advisor.

The divide over Ukraine, already at the heart of the 2022 presidential election before fading, is assumed by the head of state three months before the European elections in June.

While the far-right list led by Jordan Bardella is well ahead in the polls, Macronie seems to want to make it its almost exclusive opponent during its campaign which it launches on Saturday in Lille.

Last week, Prime Minister Gabriel Attal set the tone by wondering "if Vladimir Putin's troops are not already in our country", specifically targeting Marine Le Pen.

Jordan Bardella responded to Emmanuel Macron that it was “irresponsible” to compare the RN to “a foreign occupation army”.

“We have a president who unfortunately, as always, plays”, to “instrumentalize the war” with a view to the elections, lamented the first secretary of the Socialist Party, Olivier Faure.

“It’s not a Game Boy, in fact, France,” he was indignant.

The head of the National Rally list Jordan Bardella during the launch of his campaign for the June European elections, in Marseille, March 3, 2024 © CHRISTOPHE SIMON / AFP

A debate in Parliament

Emmanuel Macron, who promised to go to Ukraine before mid-March, is trying to impose his leadership against Russia.

France organized a ministerial videoconference on Thursday afternoon with nearly 30 Western countries to detail new aid options for kyiv.

On the political side, a debate is also planned for next week in Parliament, followed by a non-binding vote - Tuesday in the National Assembly, Wednesday in the Senate.

This debate promises to be heated.

Not so much about the bilateral security agreement signed in mid-February with Ukraine, on which the vote formally relates, but because of the recent declarations of the president, who also called on Western allies not to "be cowardly ", reinforcing Germany's ire.

If LR has opened the way to a positive vote, and if the Ecologists and the Socialist Party hesitate, the rest of the left leans towards a frank opposition.

Fabien Roussel and Manuel Bompard invoked "the prospect of Ukraine's accession to the European Union or NATO" which appears in the text submitted to the vote.

A "red line" also for Jordan Bardella, who however left the suspense hanging over the decision of the RN, favorable to the "principle of a bilateral agreement".

With AFP

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