It was like a return to the Covid-19 years. President Emmanuel Macron appeared on screens across France at 8 pm on Wednesday, March 5, dressed in a black suit, for a solemn address to a nation he said was "legitimately worried" by the rapprochement between the United States and Russia, at the expense of Ukraine. This change of direction is precipitating Europe into "a new era," he laid out right away. While Donald Trump's US is still France's ally, he said, Russia has become "a threat to Europe" and its aggressiveness "seems to know no borders."

"Faced with this world of danger, to remain a spectator would be madness," warned Macron in a speech lasting 15 minutes.

The French president's address came on the eve of an extraordinary European Council meeting in Brussels on Thursday, about support for Ukraine and the defense of Europe, at a time when Trump intends to speed up negotiations with Russia, even if it means aligning himself with Vladimir Putin's views. "The road to peace cannot pass through the abandonment of Ukraine," Macron insisted. "Peace cannot be a Russian diktat."

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