At the Globsec Forum on regional security, held in Slovakia, French President Emmanuel Macron showed his cards on key issues for his government, current events in the region and that require a unified view of Europe, such as his position of support for Ukraine to defend itself in the war, the search for allies of nuclear energy to achieve environmental objectives and responsibility in the escalation of the conflict in the north of Kosovo.
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During the Globsec Forum, President Emmanuel Macron He claimed that his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, “woke up” NATO “with the worst electric shock” by invading Ukraine last year, in hostilities that have lasted for more than 15 months. In 2019, in a widely publicized and criticized outing, the French president had said that NATO was “brain dead.”
Macron makes these words public a month before the NATO summit, in Vilnius, Lithuania, which will take place from July 11 to 12.
Faced with the Russian-Ukrainian conflict, Macron said that “today we need to help Ukraine by all means to carry out an effective counteroffensive. It’s fundamental. That’s what we’re doing. We must intensify it because what is at stake in the coming months is the very possibility of a chosen and therefore lasting peace”.
This time Emmanuel Macron was due to try to reassure Eastern European leaders, who fear concessions will be made to Russia in order to end the war more quickly.
Previously, the Elysee had spoken about the intention of this speech: “It is about sending clear signals of our determination to support Ukraine in the long term and also to return to the future of Europe, the European Union and our continent, particularly in terms of security.
To emphasize this point, Macron offered a ‘mea culpa’ to eastern European nations by saying France should have paid more attention to them amid its warnings about a belligerent Russia ahead of its invasion of Ukraine.
The French president clarified that there should be no division between “old Europe” and “new Europe”, referring to the differences that persist between the eastern and western members of the European Union on issues such as Russia.
“Some said that the opportunity to remain silent had been lost. I think we too have lost the opportunity to listen. This time is over,” he said to applause from the audience.
This was an allusion to a 2003 comment by then-French President Jacques Chirac, who said that Eastern European countries, which sided with the United States and Britain in their decision to invade Iraq that year against the opposition of some of the major Western allies, including France and Germany, had missed a “good opportunity to keep quiet.”
In search of allies around nuclear energy
Macron also referred to nuclear energy and assured that without it the European Union will not meet its climate objectives. In addition, he criticized those who want to corner this type of energy in the European Union (EU), depriving it of the incentives of renewables.
“What we want in Europe is pragmatism and technological neutrality,” he stressed at a press conference with the Slovak president, Zuzana Caputova, when asked about France’s blockade of the draft European directive on renewable energy.
And he pointed out that the EU has set “a very ambitious objective” to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 55% by 2030 compared to 1990 and carbon neutrality by 2050. This to justify its demands that it be imposed in the EU “technological neutrality so that there is no bias” and to achieve “the most integrated market possible”.
The president pointed out that “no serious expert says that this objective can be achieved without nuclear energy, none,” nor the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).
Kosovo, the conjuncture conflict, on the table
Regarding the escalation of tension in northern Kosovo, between Serbian protesters and NATO forces, which left 50 civilians and 30 soldiers injured, last Monday, Macron blamed the Kosovar government.
“There is clearly a responsibility of the Kosovar authorities in the current situation and a lack of respect for an agreement that is important and was closed several weeks ago,” he declared.
The French leader took the opportunity to mention a new plan promoted by France and Germany, mediated by the European Union, to normalize relations between Serbia and its former province of Kosovo, which in 2008 unilaterally declared its independence and which Belgrade does not recognize.
Macron expects to meet Kosovo President Vjosa Osmani and Serbian President Aleksandar on Thursday. Vucicin addition to the German leader Olaf Scholz, during the summit of the European Political Community, to be held in Moldova.
With EFE and Reuters
