Macron details his plan to avoid a “brutal” death in Europe and assumes his position on troops in Ukraine

Emmanuel Macron detailed, in The Economist, his plan to avoid a “brutal” death. of Europe, assuming in the process its controversial position on the possibility of to send ground troops to Ukraine, if Moscow was going to "break through the front lines".

“If the Russians were to break through the front lines, if there was a Ukrainian request – which is not the case today – we should legitimately ask ourselves the question”, said said the French president in a long interview published Thursday by the British weekly.

The French head of state created controversy at the end of February by affirming that the sending of Western troops to Ukrainian soil should not “be excluded” in the future. Most European countries, as well as the United States, clearly stood out, although some have since taken a step in its direction.

In The Economist, Emmanuel Macron affirms that Russia “has entered into a logic of total war”. And we must prevent him from winning in Ukraine, otherwise “we will no longer have security in Europe”.

More broadly, he places this question in the need to achieve “European military credibility”, during a debate that he called for a week ago at the Sorbonne.

In this speech, in the run-up to the European elections in June which saw his camp largely left behind in the polls by the far right, he warned: ” Europe can die”.

This “death” can be “much more brutal than we imagine,” he insisted Thursday. According to him, “a start is possible” but must be “much deeper” in the face of a “triple existential risk for our Europe”: “military and security”, “economic” and democratic.

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On defense, Europeans must sit “around the table to build a coherent framework”, argues Emmanuel Macron. “NATO provides one of these responses and it is not a question of sweeping away NATO. But this framework is much broader,” he adds.

– “Braqueurs” –

This debate must go beyond the European Union, further argues the French president, who wants to “anchor the discussion within the framework of the political community European”, this new format that he inspired to notably include London after Brexit. “It would be a mistake to exclude countries that are not in the EU”, such as Norway, the United Kingdom or the Balkans.”

The reflection must also include nuclear weapons, which France and the United Kingdom have in Europe, he reiterates. He suggests that European partners “take into account” this French “capacity”, “without pooling it”.

On the economic level, on the eve of a state visit to France by Chinese President Xi Jinping, Monday and Tuesday, Emmanuel Macron calls on Europe to defend its “strategic interests” and “national security issues” in the name of “reciprocity” in its commercial relations with Beijing. “There are many sectors for which China requires that producers be Chinese, because they are too sensitive. Well, we Europeans must be able to do the same thing.”

Regarding “democratic vulnerability”, the Head of State, who promised to get involved in the European campaign, finally issues a warning to voters: “the best way to build together, it is to have as few nationalists as possible”.

“I say to the Europeans: wake up!”, “all European nationalists are hidden Brexiters” , he adds, particularly targeting the French extreme right.

After having advocated leaving Europe, the National Rally is now reaping “the dividends of “Europe by wanting to destroy it without saying anything,” accuses President Macron. “It’s as if we were saying ‘it’s no big deal to entrust the bank to robbers’,” he adds.

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