Editorial. The Ukrainian flag in the background, joined to the tricolor banner and that of the European Union, set the scene, Wednesday, March 2, for the speech of the President of the Republic. France lives at the time of the war that Russia is waging in Ukraine, the whole of Europe is transformed by it, and the Head of State devotes most of his time to it.
Solemn but sober, Emmanuel Macron put words to this Russian aggression in the heart of Europe, once morest a country whose only fault is to want to be free and choose its destiny. “President Putin chose war”, he charged. He did it ” Alone “fed by a “revisionist reading of the history of Europe” and “a spirit of revenge”.
If he clearly denounced the “lies” of the head of the Kremlin, Mr. Macron did not reconsider his own policy with regard to Vladimir Poutine, one of the markers of the foreign policy of his quinquennium. Nor did he mention the vain efforts made in recent weeks, including by going to Moscow, to try to convince the Russian president to give up the war. If these diplomatic efforts, justified, were carried out in perfect consultation with France’s partners, it was different from the first Russian initiatives of Mr. Macron, which we see today were doomed to failure, in the face of a Russian leader locked in his resentment.
This strategy will be part of the inventory. For the time being, Emmanuel Macron intends to stay in contact with Mr. Poutine, and assumes it, “to seek relentlessly to convince him to give up arms”. He opportunely made a point of distinguishing Mr Putin from the Russians, with whom, he underlined, “France is not at war”.
Unity in the face of aggression
The President of the Republic also wanted to prepare the French for the consequences of the war and the massive European sanctions taken once morest Russia on their daily lives and on the economy. Returning there to one of his favorite roles, that of protector of the nation, he hinted at a new “whatever the cost”, following that of the Covid-19 pandemic, to help affected businesses.
Finally, Mr. Macron addressed the impact of this war, “signal of a change of era”, on the future of Europe. He finds himself on familiar ground there, and sees in this conflict the validation of the theses he has been tirelessly promoting since his 2017 campaign: European sovereignty, the affirmation of Europe as a power and the strengthening of its defense capabilities. . Strengthened by Germany’s alignment with these objectives, thanks to the changeover announced on Sunday by Chancellor Olaf Scholz, the President of the Republic announced that the European summit of March 10 and 11 would be devoted to these questions.
We would almost forget that a presidential election takes place in five weeks and that the president who spoke on Wednesday evening in front of the television viewers-voters had only two days left to formalize his candidacy. Mr. Macron only alluded to it at the end of his speech, advocating unity in the face of Russian aggression: that was not the point of his speech, and he was right not to. not mix the two subjects. But it is clear, especially in the eyes of the other candidates, that this president whose five-year term seems to have been nothing but a succession of crises, from the “yellow vests” to the pandemic and now to the war at the gates of the EU , will draw from it the springs of a flash campaign.
Our selection of articles on the war in Ukraine
