If proof were still necessary, on Thursday, March 7, Emmanuel Macron demonstrated the absence of national unity on the subject of a possible military intervention in Ukraine. Prior to the debate on the bilateral security agreement signed with Volodymyr Zelensky – to be followed by a vote – in Parliament on March 12 and 13, the French president had invited the leaders of French political parties to the Elysée to discuss the Russian-Ukrainian conflict. "I think that this will clarify positions," he explained on Tuesday, on the sidelines of a trip to Prague.
Indeed, in the Elysée's Salon des Ambassadeurs, all the opposition parties agreed on the need to "provide unwavering support for Ukraine." None of them, however, agreed with Macron's comments on a possible deployment of allied troops on the ground. After two and a half hours of discussions, party leaders took turns speaking, on a section of the sidewalk of the nearby Avenue de Marigny, where the media had set up microphones and cameras, to denounce Emmanuel Macron's "irresponsible" stance.
Rassemblement National (RN, far-right) president Jordan Bardella confirmed the existence of a "consensus around the table to provide support for Ukraine." However, "there must be limits when one of the main belligerents is a nuclear power, and is facing France head-on," he argued. Bardella, the head of the RN's list for the upcoming European Parliament elections, denounced that "the President of the Republic is prepared to support Ukraine without limits [...] there are no limits and no red lines."
While Bardella has asserted his support for the principle of a bilateral agreement between France and Ukraine, the RN has issued a particularly long list of reservations: Ukraine's accession to membership in the European Union has been described as "a red line," as has its membership of NATO. The party has also rejected the notion of "active deterrence" against Russia, and questioned the source of the €3 billion in aid for 2024, which was promised by Macron to Kyiv when the security agreement between France and Ukraine was signed on February 16.
Far from softening his stance, Macron "has repeatedly said that he sets no limits, that we must support Ukraine 'whatever it costs'," said Manuel Bompard, left wing leader Jean-Luc Mélenchon's top lieutenant in the La France Insoumise (LFI, radical left) party. Marine Tondelier, the leader of the Greens, also found it "worrying" to see the president display "no limits" when faced with "the madness of Vladimir Putin, [...] who has a nuclear arsenal." "It was an exercise in asserting and confirming that anything is possible, that troops can be sent," said Communist leader Fabien Roussel, adding: "He is leading France into a warlike escalation." Macron "didn't budge an inch," regretted Parti Socialiste (PS, left) First Secretary Olivier Faure.
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