A discreet arrival, closed-door talks and no scheduled press conference. Emmanuel Macron, who typically likes to take advantage of his participation to major international events, kept a low profile on Wednesday, July 10, the first day of the NATO summit in Washington. In the midst of a political crisis following the dissolution of the Assemblée Nationale, the French president arrived late in the morning, after his counterparts. He had skipped the previous day's ceremony marking the alliance's 75th anniversary, attended by Joe Biden and all the NATO heads of state and government.
The summit intends to strengthen the alliance's support for Ukraine, which has been under Russian invasion for thirty months. For the first time, the organization's 32 members agreed that Kyiv is on an "irreversible path" toward joining NATO, but only after the war unleashed by Russia ends. This statement is a long-negotiated compromise between supporters of Ukraine's rapid integration into NATO – including most Central and Northern European states, as well as France and the UK – and the much more reserved positions of the US and Germany, who fear escalation with Moscow.
"Putin wants nothing more, nothing less than the total submission of Ukraine. (...) Ukraine can and will stop Putin," assured Biden at the opening of the meeting, urging his allies to stand united. This call comes at a time when the possibility of Donald Trump's return to the White House is feared by most of the alliance's member states. For Chancellor Olaf Scholz, whom Macron met privately, NATO's decisions "provide Ukraine with the clarity it needs."
Macron, who wanted to be at the forefront of support for Ukraine before the dissolution, is due to meet its president, Volodymyr Zelensky, on Thursday to reaffirm France's military support for Kyiv after the parliamentary elections. Although he avoided a potentially tense "cohabitation" (when the president and prime minister come from opposing political camps) with the far-right Rassemblement National, which could have been particularly confrontational in this area, Macron remains discreet about his intentions. This comes at a time when allies are looking to strengthen their support as Russian forces continue to encroach on Ukrainian territory.
So, while the US, along with Germany, the Netherlands, Romania and Italy, pledged on Tuesday to deliver five additional anti-aircraft systems to Kyiv, including four American Patriots, Macron has remained silent on the matter. However, it is widely understood that Paris is aware of Italy's plans, as the SAMP/T Mamba system promised by Italy is produced jointly with France.
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