‘Vladimir Putin will not stop in Ukraine’: French Minister Delegate for Europe

Macron blindsided many allies late last month when, speaking after a Ukraine-focused meeting of European leaders in Paris, he said all options should be on the table if Europe was serious about achieving its goal of helping Ukraine win the war – even if that meant sending European troops to bolster Kyiv’s hard-pressed forces. Several allies, including the US, UK, Germany and Poland, bristled at the unexpected statement. They said they feared a dangerous escalation with Russia of the kind they have sought to avoid since Russia’s full-scale invasion on February 24, 2022. Macron has since sought to clarify his remarks, telling journalists during a visit to Prague this week that there will be no French troops in Ukraine “in the near future”.  

Macron's about-face? 

Macron’s comments on sending troops seemed to mark a stunning about-face in the French president’s attitude towards Vladimir Putin. On the eve of the war, Macron became the butt of a viral meme campaign on social media, when he met with Putin across a long table at the Kremlin in a bid to persuade the Kremlin leader to pull back his troops from Ukraine’s border. Later, Macron vexed many of Ukraine’s allies when he insisted that “we must not humiliate Russia”, and repeatedly phoned up Putin in a last-ditch diplomatic gambit. Macron’s more assertive posture towards Putin came after the French president had exhausted every diplomatic means at his disposal, according to Barrot. He said Macron had tried to “reason with Putin, and to prevent him from [pressing ahead with] his projects, which are basically to violate the borders of the neighbouring country and, more broadly, to create a new international order based on brute force rather than on the rule of law and the respect of national borders”. “It turns out that two years later, Russia is still being extremely aggressive in Ukraine”, Barrot added. 

Cyberattacks and disinformation 

Barrot also noted what he saw as a wider-ranging agenda at work, saying the aggression was not limited to Ukraine. “We’ve been seeing over the past few months aggressivity towards European countries through cyberattacks, through disinformation, misinformation campaigns,” Barrot said. “And this suggests that we need in Europe to display unity and strength and send this signal to Vladimir Putin that we will support Ukraine whatever it takes, and that we will stand alongside the Ukrainian resistance." Echoing one of Macron’s favourite themes, Barrot insisted on the need for Europe to build up its “strategic autonomy” and provide for its own defence amid growing uncertainty about US security guarantees. Barrot downplayed concerns, voiced by many defence analysts, that Donald Trump would make good on hints that he might pull the US out of NATO if he returned to the White House next November. 

Far right looming? 

“Retraction from NATO?” Barrot said. “No, he has had strong statements saying that the Europeans should now sort of build up their military bases, which is what we are currently doing. What we see as Europeans is that we need two policies: One is NATO, and the other is the building up of our own European technological defence bases.” Looking ahead to June’s EU-wide parliamentary elections, in which voters will head to polls in 27 member states to elect 720 deputies, Barrot said he did not see a rightward shift in public opinion at the hands of far-right populist parties pandering to voters’ fears. But he alluded to the tough challenges ahead. “I think that centre or centrist parties like the one I belong to, both at the national and European level, need to provide our citizens with the right answers.” 

Programme produced by Sophie Samaille, Céline Schmitt, Johan Bodin, Luke Brown and Perrine Desplats