They take a critical look at Emmanuel Macron’s latest diplomatic choices and would have proceeded differently. Several candidates for the presidential election launched, each in their own way, the diplomatic tour of the President of the Republic, Sunday February 6 and Monday February 7. The latter goes to Moscow on Monday to meet his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, before discussing Tuesday with the Ukrainian President, Volodymyr Zelensky, in an attempt to initiate a de-escalation between the two countries.
This risky diplomatic mission takes place while the Russian military deployment on the border of Ukraine is still so threatening, to the point of prompting the United States and the United Kingdom to warn of the imminence of an attack .
Invited on France Inter radio on Monday, far-right candidate Eric Zemmour felt that Emmanuel Macron had “reason to go”, but it was ” a bit late “ and “Putin has no[vait] don’t trust him”. According to the candidate of Reconquest!, “Emmanuel Macron wasted his chances [en matière de politique internationale] and wasted some good ideas”, praising, for example, the fact that he received Mr. Poutine in Versailles at the beginning of the quinquennium. “But, unfortunately, as usual with Macron, he ruins everything because he does everything and its opposite. It is the famous “the same time” and it doesn’t work” on the international scene, he continued.
“The Americans have done a lot to provoke Putin”
If Eric Zemmour estimated “that there must be a peaceful agreement, peaceful [entre l’Ukraine et la Russie] », a “simple conditions” exists according to him: “We have to commit that Ukraine will never join NATO. “Vladimir Putin’s claim is completely legitimate”, defended the far-right candidate who also refused to take a clear position on the subject of Wagner’s mercenaries present in Mali.
Again questioned on this subject at the end of the interview, Eric Zemmour continued to defend the choice of Vladimir Putin by advancing: “He is a Russian patriot. It is legitimate for him to defend the interests of Russia (…). The Americans have done a lot to provoke Putin. »
Valérie Pécresse, the Republican presidential candidate, noted that “Russia is worried at its borders” and “that you have to put yourself in the psychology of the Russians”. She proposed “a new conference on security in Europe which could give birth to a pan-European security council from the Atlantic to the Urals”, Sunday on France 5.
“We are no longer the day after the fall of the Berlin Wall, we do not need to have an alliance where the United States are necessarily partners, we can do without the United States. (…) You have to take the hand [sur ce dossier] », analyzed the candidate, before speaking in Russian language to declare: “I want to tell the proud Russian people that we must build peace in Europe together and that starting a war with Ukraine would be a terrible mistake. »
“Not Aligned”
Asked about this on Sunday on TF1, Jean-Luc Mélenchon, the “rebellious” candidate in the presidential election, felt that France should be “unaligned”, before specifying: “Which means both that the Russians should not enter Ukraine and that the Americans should not annex Ukraine into NATO. »
According to him, Vladimir Putin’s position is understandable. “I don’t know how we French people would react if we learned that Mr. Erdogan [le président turc] had created an alliance that would encircle France. It wouldn’t make us happy, so I think the key word must be de-escalation.”, he continued.
Jean-Luc Mélenchon also criticized “to President Macron for raising his voice at one point by saying: ‘France will defend the integrity of Ukrainian territory.” “That seems completely excessive to me. If you want to play a role, you have to be non-aligned. If we choose to be aligned, we no longer play a role, we are in one of the camps. And France’s interest is not to turn Russia into an adversary., he added.
“Hand firm but open”
In January, he pleaded for dialogue with Russia, which he considers an essential partner for Europe. “I do not agree with making an enemy of him”, he assured on France Inter on January 3. He added that the enlargement of NATO to the countries of the East in the 2000s had been “felt as a threat by Russia” and advocated an exit from NATO, which he considers to be the relay of the United States against Russia.
His competitor on the left, the communist candidate Fabien Roussel, also called for “stop being aligned behind the war policy of the United States”, “finding our voice” and “take the path of disarmament and peace”, during its meeting in Marseille on Sunday.
The PCF candidate asked “to open a dialogue with Russia, to extend a hand”, before specifying: “A firm hand, but an open hand. » “When we hear the sound of boots slamming at the doors of Europe, whether of Russian soldiers or NATO, this escalation worries us”, he also said.
“The victim before the executioner”
For his part, the environmental candidate Yannick Jadot would have “liked that the president started by going to Kiev before going to Russia”. “Let him start going to see the victim before going to see the executioner”, he judged on Sunday, interviewed on BFM-TV.
Yannick Jadot proposed “that President Macron, as President of the European Union [présidence française du Conseil de l’Europe], convene a summit in Kyiv to show Europe’s absolute solidarity for democracy in Ukraine”.
“I find it unfortunate that the President of the Republic never went to Kiev during his five-year term, and that he received Vladimir Putin without this having any effect on Putin’s diplomacy and aggressiveness”, finally lamented the ecologist.