“It is our duty to prepare for every scenario,” declared the In an interview with Le Parisien French President Emmanuel Macron. The president answered the newspaper’s questions when he was on his way home from Berlin, where he met with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk on Friday.
“I wanted to go to Germany very quickly so that we don’t start a discussion regarding possible strategic differences: there are none,” he said.
Macron canceled his trip to Kiev in favor of Berlin on Friday, but said he would visit there in the coming weeks. “I explained to Zelesznky that now the most important thing is to first convince Poland and Germany to do more and differently, on the side of France, and only then I would go to Ukraine”.
According to Macron, Scholz and he have never had disagreements, they see “the goals and the situation” very similarly. “Only the way we interpret them differs because our countries have different strategic cultures”.
“Germany’s strategic culture is great caution, non-intervention, and distance from nuclear weapons. It is a completely different model than that of France, which has nuclear weapons and has maintained and strengthened its professional army”.
In Berlin, the three leaders announced that they would increase aid to Ukraine, including the purchase of ammunition from outside Europe, to make up for the European Union’s shortfall in this area. Scholz confirmed that they are creating a “coalition of long-range artillery capabilities.” This is also symbolic because until now it was Germany that was reluctant to give long-range Taurus missiles to Ukraine. The German chancellor has now promised that their allies will not prevent them from doing so.
Macron told reporters that the message from the three partner countries is that they want to get more out of the division of tasks between them. “France can do things that Germany can’t,” he said.
When asked if this would include sending troops to Ukraine (which Macron has previously touted, but which was not discussed in Berlin), the French president replied:
“Maybe at some point – I don’t want it, I don’t initiate it – there will be a need for ground operations once morest the Russian forces, whatever that may be. The strength of France is that we can do that.”
“Many countries in Europe, and not even the most important ones, are on our side,” he added.
“Our job is to prepare for every scenario. It would be a mistake not to do so. Moreover, I am convinced that in the case of some of these scenarios, everyone who can should take responsibility with their own model,” he emphasized.
“Putin’s message is regarding fear. We must not let them intimidate us, because we are not facing a great power. Russia is a medium-sized power with nuclear weapons, but its GDP is much lower than Europe’s, lower than Germany’s or France’s.”
Macron also made it clear that he will not congratulate Putin if he (as expected) wins the Russian presidential election. “The death of Alexei Navalny and the banning of all his opponents means that you cannot congratulate someone on an election that is marred by the deaths of those who fought for pluralism in Russia,” he said.
At the beginning of March, French President Emmanuel Macron raised the possibility of sending Western soldiers to Ukraine. “There is no consensus at this point to officially send ground troops. (…) Nothing should be ruled out. We will do everything we have to do to prevent Russia from winning,” he said. The statement was described by the French president himself as maintaining “strategic uncertainty”. We wrote more regarding what Macron’s goal might have been here.
Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó also responded to the French president’s statements, he said that Macron’s claims are not supported by anything, that in the past two years, NATO has never had any idea that the previous agreement, according to which the alliance would not interfere directly with Russia, should be changed – to the Ukrainian war.
