Even before the opening of a debate in French Parliament on the situation in Ukraine on Monday, March 3, Marine Le Pen's statements at the Paris Agricultural Show two days earlier had removed any ambiguity. There will be no national unity to accompany France's entry into the new world order, the highly dangerous situation created by the disengagement from Europe that the new American administration is openly claiming and conducting with intentional brutality.

Contrary to the majority of political leaders outraged by the behavior of Donald Trump and his vice president, JD Vance, who not only abandoned Volodymyr Zelensky but insisted on humiliating him in front of the world's cameras on Friday, Le Pen minimized the moment's significance. She described it as nothing more than a "passionate" exchange between "two presidents of nations." And from this public fiasco she hoped for "a first step toward peace," castigating those she describes as warmongers. Music to Trump's and Vladimir Putin's ears.

For the past three years, the war taking place on European soil, less than 2,000 kilometers from Paris, has permeated French politics. The conflict dominated the 2022 presidential campaign. It facilitated Emmanuel Macron's re-election in the face of far less seasoned opponents, without giving him a blank check on the national policy he intended to pursue.

Existential threat

The pension reform he pushed for as soon as he was re-elected, raising the retirement age as part of a productive pact designed to boost the French economy, was roundly rejected. The Rassemblement National built on the discontent from the unsuccessful social movement against the reform, and emerged victorious two years later in the European elections in June 2024. Neither Macron's repeated warnings about a Europe in "mortal danger" nor his attempt to focus the debate around a possible dispatch of troops to Ukrainian soil succeeded in regaining his advantage. From that initial failure came the unfortunate decision to call snap elections, the resulting governmental instability, and the impossibility of passing any major reforms.

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