The attitude of the EU countries and the collective “West” towards the current course of the Russian-Ukrainian war, the failure of Ukraine’s counter-offensive and the strengthening of Putin’s positions can be characterized as confusion, indecision and dispute about the future and steps. The hastily convened summit in Paris, intended to give new direction and momentum to the allies’ efforts to help Ukraine, showed uncertainty and mutual mistrust. At the same time, French President Emmanuel Macron surprised everyone by raising a provocative proposal to send NATO troops to Ukraine, which in itself would mean a direct conflict between NATO and Russia, with the resulting geopolitical consequences.
It is likely that Macron deliberately provokes the discussion and debate of the topic, trying to replace the role of a peacemaker and negotiator with Putin in the previous phase of the war with the image of a war gun and a defender of a united Europe. In 2019, for example, Macron, following Trump, announced that NATO suffered a stroke and needed to be transformed. Or when, 3 months after the war, he said that “Russia should not be humiliated”. Now, his approach is that collective Europe must take matters of its own security and defense into its own hands, because the Americans can no longer be relied upon. From that point of view, Macron’s calls to send troops to Ukraine are not so much or only about Ukraine, but about EU security and defense policy. Macron wants to “remilitarize” Europe at any cost, at the same time accusing Germany of slowness and “restraint”. And this is in the event that Germany’s aid to Ukraine is more than 11 billion, and to France – 700 million euros.
The official Kremlin did not respond to these warlike statements of Macron. Peskov immediately declared that this would make a Russia-NATO war inevitable. And Putin indirectly threatened the use of nuclear weapons in his message. The reaction of Macron’s allies was almost identical and negative. The US, UK, Germany, Poland and others have lined up to say the troop deployment would be an unwarranted escalation. There is a point of view that with this statement, Macron is trying to raise the profile of his party ahead of the EU parliamentary elections, trying to change the internal issues in an external direction and uniting the left and the right around a common enemy.
Inciting a debate, Macron is trying to give new impetus to his EU leadership plans, hinting at his willingness to deal with Europe’s future security issues and his bid to be the new De Gaulle of the anti-Russian camp. Act more than talk – this is the formula of Macron’s militancy, but act at the expense of others and with the hands of others. The possible victory of Trump, the possible “exit” of the US from the region and the need for a new EU security and defense formula and leader in all of this is particularly evident as a result of Germany’s “passive” and “reticent” policy.
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