For his very first speech in front of a student audience, Wednesday, May 11, Volodymyr Zelensky chose France. At the initiative of the Ukrainian Embassy in France, the Head of State was questioned during a videoconference by a dozen students from Sciences Po, Polytechnique, the National Institute of Public Service (INSP, ex-ENA), the National Institute of Oriental Languages and Civilizations (Inalco) and the universities of Paris-Panthéon-Sorbonne and Sorbonne University. He insisted, in return, on sounding out French youth whom he described as “bright”, at a time when another youth, Ukrainian, has gone to war, “intrepid”composed of young men “forming long queues in front of military police stations to defend their towns”, recalled the President of Ukraine.
The exchange, which lasted more than an hour, was followed live by nearly 8,000 students, in numerous lecture halls throughout France and on YouTube. The Ukrainian head of state hailed “the contribution of French students [qui] has been fundamental since May-68: there is no politician who is not afraid that a student will come and tell him that it is forbidden to ban”.
In sincere and direct language, Volodymyr Zelensky pointed out the contradictions that animate Europe. “Why has no European or global institution yet been able to stop this war? This is a question that should not remain rhetoricalhe insisted. This is a question that requires answers, it is a question that concerns Europe. »
On the subject of his country’s application for membership of the European Union, the President expressed the firmness of his intentions at the same time as his incomprehension with regard to the “European leaders”. “We cannot be kept at a distance, say that we will be taken and finally not taken, as in a family reunion where you would have been invited without providing you with a chair”did he declare.
“I am a young man, who wants to live”
Curious about the way French students look at the consequences of Russian aggression towards his country, Volodymyr Zelensky multiplied the questions: “How to speed up the functioning of international justice? What would be a sufficient sentence for a soldier who raped a child? Why is there still no way to punish criminals quickly? If Russia attacked Latvia for example, would NATO go to fight? » Impressed by the exercise, some students gave personal answers, such as Caroline Weill, a student at the National Institute of Public Service (INSP) who shared the position of the Ukrainian president, believing that “the institutional processes for EU accession are too slow”. “We have to think about a political community in which Ukraine would have a vocation to participate [en amont] of its accession to the European Union.she added.
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