Alexandre Chauveau with Gauthier Delomez
modified to
09:36, February 28, 2022
Candidates Éric Zemmour and Valérie Pécresse have proposed to the executive the appointment of Nicolas Sarkozy as mediator of the European Union to negotiate peace in Ukraine, targeting the fact that Emmanuel Macron has still not officially declared himself a presidential candidate. . This proposal “is not serious”, replied Clément Beaune Monday in “Europe Matin”.
France is taking a stand in the war between Russia and Ukraine, while the presidential campaign is taking place and outgoing President Emmanuel Macron, who wants to run, has still not formalized his candidacy. Faced with this situation, Éric Zemmour and Valérie Pécresse both proposed to the executive the appointment of former President Nicolas Sarkozy as mediator of the European Union to negotiate the resolution of the conflict. Appointing an emissary, “it’s not serious”, replied the Secretary of State for European Affairs, Clément Beaune, Monday in Europe Morning.
“Inconsistencies” at Zemmour and Pécresse
The two candidates refer to Nicolas Sarkozy’s intervention to resolve the crisis in Georgia in 2008. Éric Zemmour is also calling for the appointment of former Foreign Minister Hubert Védrine to negotiate peace in Ukraine.
“Éric Zemmour and Valérie Pécresse seek to make people forget a certain number of inconsistencies”, tackled the Secretary of State at the microphone of Sonia Mabrouk, who excludes sending mediators on the spot. “When you aspire to the presidential office, you should aspire to exercise this type of responsibility yourself when there is a war,” he continued on Europe 1.
“It is not possible on such serious subjects”
Clément Beaune recalled that President Emmanuel Macron had already spoken with former heads of state, including Nicolas Sarkozy, on Friday. “Nicolas Sarkozy and Hubert Védrine are obviously eminently respectable (…) but there is no emissary when you are in charge of the Republic, head of the armies, head of national security, president. It is not not possible on such serious subjects”, explained the special adviser to Emmanuel Macron.
The Secretary of State then joked at the microphone of Europe 1: “Listen, I am staying quietly at the Élysée. I do not take European or international initiatives, I have emissaries. Whatever the quality emissaries, I don’t think it’s serious.” And Clément Beaune to strike a final sting at Emmanuel Macron’s competitors: “(This proposal) is a smokescreen to hide still recent mistakes with regard to Russia.”