Former French defense minister Herve Morin has excoriated President Macron over his idea of deploying thousands of French servicemen in Ukraine, warning about the “hubris” of provoking Russia, a nuclear power, and stressing that France’s limited conventional military capabilities have left even Paris’s weapons assistance to Kiev “very mediocre,” to say nothing of a potential troop deployment.
“These are the provocations of a child king,” Morin said in an interview with Le Point on Wednesday, pointing out that Macron has disingenuously threatened to send the military while refusing to give the Kiev combat aircraft it has asked for.
“Macron is a narcissist” who has been “locked up in a castle with a courtyard for seven years,” the former defense minister said, citing the publication of the president’s “ridiculous” boxing photo as “further proof” of his disconnect from reality.
Even if Macron wanted to send troops eastward, they would have to cross the airspace of other European countries, some of which may oppose such a provocative step, Morin said, pointing out that France’s defense model of power projection and limited operations in Africa means very limited conventional capabilities as far as munitions and missiles go.
If anything, the ex-Sarkozy-era defense minister said, Macron’s excessive talkativeness on the deployment of troops in Ukraine has only weakened France from the standpoint of strategic ambiguity. “He talks too much,” Morin said. Russia, meanwhile, obviously has absolutely no interest in confronting NATO, Morin said, unless were to think that the country’s leadership “has psychiatric problems.”
Abroad, Macron has faced flak from Berlin – France’s top EU and NATO ally, and has reportedly even “angered” US officials, who attacked him anonymously in a Bloomberg piece on Wednesday for letting the cat out of the bag about NATO’s potential “red lines” in Ukraine while increasing the risks of a direct clash with Russia. Not to mention the risks to “operational security” of alliance personnel already “quietly” deployed in Ukraine.
“I think [Macron’s] trying to position himself as the leader, given that Joe Biden is stuck in the presidential campaign in the US,” Alexis Poulin, a leading independent EU policy analyst, and co-editor of the Le Monde Moderne magazine, told Sputnik.
“Also, there is the European election in June,” Poulin pointed out, saying that making loud, provocative comments give Macron free media airtime, and help him among his electoral base, particularly as his team labels the country’s main opposition – Marine Le Pen of the National Rally Party, an “ally of Vladimir Putin.”
“People who believe in Macron would believe in this,” observer said. But “most of the French people are looking at the economy, and the economy is not looking great. We have a huge debt and deficit, and I think this [Macron’s strategy, ed.] is not working because so far, the majority of French people are in favor of the support for Ukraine, but not at any cost.”
“The fact that he is positioning Marine Le Pen as the main opponent says a lot about the weakness of the president, because there are other parties that are competing for the European elections,” Poulin emphasized.
Macron’s Dilemma
At the same time as he has expressed readiness to send troops to Ukraine to prop up the Zelensky regime, Macron has backed recent demands by Poland to block the free flow of Ukrainian grain into the European common market amid pressure from farmers.
That, Poulin says, is one of the French president’s main problems, given the scale of the farmer protests across Europe, including in France, with growers “fed up with European regulations that are killing” them, and enraged over Brussels’ directives to accept Ukrainian foodstuffs tariff-free at heavy cost to themselves.
Macron’s inconsistent stance on Ukraine isn’t unique, Poulin said, pointing, for example, to Paris’ policy toward Gaza, where the president has lobbied Prime Minister Netanyahu to “stop his very violent policy” while “at the same time…supplying the Israeli army with ammunition.”
“And in any subject that you can find, it will be the same thing. Macron says one thing and does another thing, all the opposite. It’s nothing new. It’s just a way of governing since he has been in power,” the observer said.
Base and Superstructure
Macron has found some allies in his quest to become de-facto leader of Europe with his Ukraine rhetoric, Poulin said.
“But again, the main issue for the Eurozone is the economy and economic growth. The rest won’t work if there is no growth and if the European economy doesn’t step up,” the observer stressed.
The French president has reportedly expressed frustration ahead of the June elections to the European Parliament, gathering allies together last week to criticize the Renew Europe coalition, reprimanding them commentating instead of mobilizing ahead of the key vote, which could influence the EU’s policy on an array of foreign and domestic policy matters, including Ukraine.