The Prime Minister met Monday followingnoon at Matignon for two hours with the main presidential candidates for a meeting to follow up on the conflict in Ukraine “and the decisions taken by France and the European Union to respond to it”. Jean Castex explained to the participants that he wanted to “share all useful information, in a spirit of responsibility and transparency”, and not “to have a political debate”, according to Matignon.
The head of government was accompanied by the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Jean-Yves Le Drian, the Minister for the Armed Forces, Florence Parly, the Minister Delegate for Public Accounts, Olivier Dussopt, the government spokesperson, Gabriel Attal, as well as the Chief of the Defense Staff, General Thierry Burkhard.
A “good behavior” meeting
“The meeting was well held (and) was held in a spirit of great responsibility,” said Gabriel Attal, assuring that the government “will continue in the days and weeks to come (…) all the useful initiatives regarding the most democratic management of this crisis”. “The Prime Minister also responded to the responsibility incumbent on all political parties so that this democratic debate can take place,” he added.
Only the declared candidates having collected at least 300 sponsorships out of the 500 necessary were invited. Among them, Marine Le Pen, Valérie Pécresse, Éric Zemmour, Yannick Jadot, Fabien Roussel, Nicolas Dupont-Aignan and Anne Hidalgo went to Matignon.
At the end of the meeting, the latter welcomed a “useful and important” discussion, displaying for the most part their support for sanctions once morest Russia. Several of them insisted on the importance of maintaining democratic dialogue despite the current crisis, specifying that Prime Minister Jean Castex had given “guarantees” on this subject.
An impact on the presidential election?
“I think it is important to know the conditions under which this presidential election will take place”, argued Marine Le Pen, stressing that it “would not be a question of Russia’s aggression depriving the French of this which is the cornerstone of our democratic system.
The PCF candidate, Fabien Roussel, for his part welcomed “all the measures that have been taken by France and at the level of the European Union” to “open spaces for dialogue” and “to be able to quickly obtain a cease fire”, while Anne Hidalgo indicated that she had spoken of “welcoming refugees”.
Valérie Pécresse welcomed “very complete information on the situation”, calling “for the maintenance of these sanctions over time”, when the ecologist Yannick Jadot called for “national and European unity if we want have the greatest firmness to fight Vladimir Putin and help the Ukrainian resistance”, pleading for “the extension of sanctions to Belarus”.
Mélenchon, Lassalle and Arthaud absent
Jean-Luc Mélenchon, absent, intended to be represented by the deputy LFI Bastien Lachaud, but the proposal was refused by Matignon, who specified that the invitation only concerned the candidates. Jean Lassalle, who had first confirmed his presence, published a message on Twitter two minutes before the meeting indicating that he had finally “decided to decline the invitation of the Prime Minister”, an invitation also refused by the candidate of Workers’ struggle, Nathalie Arthaud.
VIDEO. When Eric Zemmour and Marine Le Pen did not believe in a Russian offensive in Ukraine
On Friday, Jean Castex had received the presidents of groups from the Assembly and the Senate, as well as the presidents of the Defense and Foreign Affairs committees, and several members of the government, as part of a “parliamentary liaison committee” . All this before a debate in Parliament, without a vote, on Tuesday.
