Macron insists on sending Western troops to Ukraine and warns: “An entire civilization could die” at the hands of Russia

Adopting a more combative rhetoric than other European leaders, the French president has no doubts about what is at stake in the geopolitical scenario. “If Russia wins in Ukraine, there will be no security in Europe”

French President Emmanuel Macron insists on the possible need to send Western troops to Ukraine if Russia manages to “break through the front lines”, expressing concern about the future of Europe in the event of Moscow’s victory.

In an interview with Economist magazine, Emmanuel Macron presented himself at the Elysee Palace as being very unoptimistic regarding Europe’s security, given the threats from Russia and China, and at a time of great challenges in relations with the USA. “An entire civilization can die (….) Things can happen much faster than we think”, he warns.

Adopting a more combative rhetoric than other European leaders, Macron has no doubts about what is at stake in the geopolitical scenario. “If Russia wins in Ukraine, there will be no security in Europe. Who can pretend that Russia won’t stop there [em Kiev]?”, he asks, highlighting Moscow’s threat to other neighboring countries, from Moldova to Poland.

Hence, despite the resistance of other European leaders, such as German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, the French president continues to insist on the need to send Western troops to Ukraine, if Russia decides to go further in its threats, going beyond the lines of front in Kiev.

“If the Russians managed to break through the front lines, if there was a Ukrainian request – which is not the case today – we would legitimately have to question ourselves about this”, he argues, remembering that France also sent troops to help African countries in the Sahel when their leaders requested it.

And reinforces the appeal to other allies: “If Russia decides to go further, we will all have to ask this question.”

The French president goes beyond words, even intending to put into practice a new binding European security “framework” – an idea that is not well received by most European countries, as well as the USA, who are suspicious of Macron’s motives for this purpose. , suspecting that this could discredit NATO. In 2019, in an interview with the same magazine, Macron had already spoken about the “brain death” of NATO, recalls the Economist. Now, however, he clarifies that “it is not about leaving NATO aside” in this process, but rather about preparing Europe for all scenarios, without counting on US support. “We have to prepare to protect ourselves”, he emphasizes.

But it’s not just Russia that worries Macron – China is also a cause for concern for the French president, especially the technological advances that Beijing has been developing recently. Macron, who worked in banking before assuming the French presidency, fears Europe is about to fall behind in the technology sector. For the French president, part of the solution lies in an injection of public capital into technological development, as well as the deregulation of the sector, thus encouraging the production of new technologies.

Another concern expressed by the French president is related to the emerging nationalism in Europe, associating the growth of nationalist parties with the spread of disinformation and the media that works as “echo chambers”. In this context, Macron cites Marc Bloch, a French historian who was killed by the Gestapo, after he argued that the elites facilitated the fall of France at the hands of the Nazis in 1940, by being complacent with the regime.

“What kills me, both in France and in Europe, is the spirit of defeat”, assumes Macron, arguing that this defeatist spirit that he says is gaining ground on the European continent can only result in one thing: “People get used to it and stop fighting.”

In Emmanuel Macron’s opinion, according to the Economist, this is what is at stake in Europe: elites are beginning to assume that opinion polls are an inevitable result and end up resigning themselves. “Politics is not made with polls. It’s a fight, it’s about ideas, it’s about convictions”, he argues.