In an interview published by “Le Parisien” on Saturday night, Emmanuel Macron reaffirmed that ground operations in Ukraine by the West may be necessary “at some point”.
“Maybe at some point – I don’t want it, I won’t take the initiative – it will be necessary to conduct operations on the ground, whatever they may be, to counter the Russian forces.” Precisely in these terms, Emmanuel Macron in an interview with Parisiantalked about potential ground operations in Ukraine.
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“The strength of France is that we can do it,” he added. The French president was returning from Berlin where he met Chancellor Olaf Scholz and Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk in a show of unity between the three countries. Repeated statements by Emmanuel Macron, who refuses to rule out sending ground troops to Ukraine, have sown disarray among Paris’s allies, led by Germany, and sparked near-unanimous disapproval from the opposition in France.
“There was never any anger between the Chancellor and me”
In his interview, the president rules out any disagreements within the French-German couple on this issue. “I wanted to come to Germany very quickly so as not to create a debate about strategic differences that might exist: they don’t,” he explains. “There have never been any disagreements between the chancellor and me. We have very common views on the goals and the situation. The way they are translated is different,” he continues, emphasizing the “strategic cultures” of the two countries.
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“Germany has a strategic culture of great caution, non-interference, and keeps a distance from nuclear energy,” he explains. “A very different model to that of France, which has nuclear weapons and has maintained and strengthened a professional army,” he said again.
Meeting with Zelensky in the coming weeks
The French president adds that he has given up his trip to Kiev in order to go to Berlin on Friday and meet Olaf Scholz and Donald Tusk there. He has assured that he will meet with President Volodymyr Zelensky in Ukraine by mid-March, a trip that was once planned for February and then postponed. He now says his visit will take place in the coming weeks. It also emphasizes the complementarity of aid that France and Germany can provide.
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“Germany spends more than France, it has more budget space, that’s lucky. France can do things that Germany can’t,” he told Le Parisien, before setting things straight. the power of Russia. “We must not be intimidated, we are not facing a great power. Russia is a middle power with nuclear weapons, but whose GDP is much lower than the GDP of Europeans, lower than Germany, France,” he said.