The National Assembly provided broad support for the security agreement between Paris and kyiv on Tuesday evening, despite the abstention of the RN and the opposition of LFI, which denounced Emmanuel’s “go to war” speeches. Macron. The deputies voted by 372 votes to 99 in favor of the French aid strategy for Ukraine, with the support of LR, the PS and environmentalists during this non-binding ballot. The President of the Republic Emmanuel Macron will speak on Ukraine on Thursday in the 8 p.m. news on TF1 and France 2, the two channels announced a few minutes after the vote.
“To abstain is to flee” and to vote against is to “turn our back on our history”: Gabriel Attal scratched the National Rally and the Insoumis at the opening of the debates. But the Prime Minister above all addressed the French directly, emphasizing the “concrete” and “tangible” risks of a Russian victory for their daily lives. Two years after the outbreak of war, a success for Vladimir Putin would be a “cataclysm” for “purchasing power”: “the French would live less well” with “food inflation to the tenth power, an explosion in food prices energy to the power of ten,” he argued. “We do not set limits against Russia, which does not set any limits,” added the head of government, after paying tribute to “the exceptional resistance of the Ukrainian people”, to applause.
A bare hemicycle
Three months before the European elections, while the far right is racing in the polls, aid to Ukraine has become one of the key themes of the campaign. Particularly since the controversial remarks of President Macron who has not ruled out sending Western troops on the ground and does not want to put “any limits” on support for kyiv. In a bare chamber and less agitated than expected, Marine Le Pen, while proclaiming her support for Ukraine, accused the executive of “instrumentalizing” the crisis to “put it at the service of an electoral agenda”. “Either we are pro-Macron, or we are accused of being pro-Putin,” said the head of the RN deputies, who abstained.
Just before the vote, Gabriel Attal raised his voice against opponents of the agreement. “I would rather stick out my chest than be flat on my stomach in front of Russia,” he said. “Today, there is no negotiation possible” with Vladimir Putin, who wants to “withdraw its sovereignty” from Ukraine.
“Electoral tactics”
The left has displayed its divisions. Rebels and communists voted against. At LFI, Arnaud Le Gall denounced a “go-to-war” and “blaster” President Macron. “France does not have to lock itself into a Western, Atlanticist camp,” he grumbled, opposing any enlargement of NATO and the European Union to Ukraine. The security agreement sealed on February 16 between Paris and kyiv “draws no red line, no prospect of peace and contributes to escalation”, added the leader of the Communist Party Fabien Roussel.
The divergence is clear with the socialists, who voted to “help Ukraine hold on”. The leader of the PS deputies, Boris Vallaud, however, like the entire opposition, criticized President Macron’s “casual tricks (…)”. The head of the environmental group Cyrielle Chatelain in turn deplored the “warmongering rhetoric of the President of the Republic”, but supported the agreement, “for the delivery of weapons, for Ukraine’s accession to the Union European, against any sending of ground troops.”
On the right, LR railed against “the small electoral tactics” of the head of state but showed his support for Kiev and demanded “acts”: “What Ukraine needs to defend itself is not adventurous words from the President of the Republic, but shells,” said Olivier Marleix. In his statement, Gabriel Attal defended the Franco-Ukrainian security agreement of February 16. Concluded for a period of ten years, it includes a strengthening of military cooperation, particularly in the areas of artillery and air defense.
In 2024, Paris promises to provide “up to three billion euros of additional support”. “These three billion are not a check to Ukraine. They correspond to the maximum value of our military aid in 2024, in particular to orders placed with our French defense industries,” explained Minister of the Armed Forces Sébastien Lecornu.
He assured that sending combat ground troops was not on the table and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky wanted to be reassuring on Monday by telling French media that “as long as Ukraine holds, the French army can remain on French territory.