several opposition parties are calling for a debate

Over the deliveries of European arms to Ukraine, the opposition in France is beginning to raise a question: how far will France go in supporting kyiv? While the National Assembly is to welcome, Tuesday, January 31, the President of the Ukrainian Parliament, Ruslan Stefanchuk, it is a question that agitates the left as the right, from the National Rally (RN) to La France insoumise (LFI) and to the Communist Party (PCF) via the Les Républicains (LR) party.

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Until now, a relative silence had settled around the question, between respect for the ” at the same time “ attempted by Emmanuel Macron in the face of Vladimir Poutine and avoidance of a divisive subject on the left. On October 3, 2022, for the start of the parliamentary term, the majority had organized a debate on this theme in the Assembly, with the idea of ​​highlighting the divisions of the left and above all of dismissing back to back LFI and the RN, accused by Revival of “complacency” vis-à-vis the Russian authorities. On November 30, “rebellious” and far-right MPs abstained on a resolution in support of Ukraine.

Since then, the situation has changed – Emmanuel Macron announced on January 4 the delivery of light tanks to the troops in kyiv – and it is now the left, led by the communist group in the Assembly, which pleads for the holding of a parliamentary debate. “For several weeks, important steps have been taken (towed artillery, light tanks, etc.) until the announcement of the delivery of heavy tanks by Great Britain, the United States, Germany, Poland and tomorrow , possibly by Sweden or France. (…) The consequences of such a spiral must be able to be measured by the national representation. Are we prepared to take the risk of going to war with Russia? »ask in a letter to the Prime Minister, Elisabeth Borne, the leader of the Communist and related deputies, André Chassaigne, and the national secretary of the PCF, Fabien Roussel.

Their questioning, which raises strategic and theoretical debates, such as the definition of a co-belligerent or a military escalation, is supported by the LFI deputies, who generally share the same geopolitical software advocating an exit from NATO and anti-Atlanticism.

Also read the editorial: War in Ukraine: a political message addressed to Russia

“Moral overkill”

“It is unbearable that such heavy issues are not submitted to national representation”, believes LFI deputy Arnaud Le Gall, member of the Foreign Affairs Committee and co-editor of the international section of Jean-Luc Mélenchon’s presidential program. Candidate Mélenchon had “regretted”1er March 2022 to the National Assembly, the delivery of arms to Ukraine decided by the European Union. After a presidential campaign where the Ukrainian question found itself at the heart of the divisions on the left, the “rebellious” kept a low profile, in particular because their candidate wanted to avoid too much splitting if he were to subsequently arrive at Matignon in the outcome of the legislative.

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