political non-debate in France

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky arrives at the Elysée Palace to meet Emmanuel Macron, in Paris, Wednesday February 8, 2023. JEAN-CLAUDE COUTAUSSE FOR “THE WORLD”

“Munich” is infamy. When we talk about the agreements by which the British and French thought they could save peace, in 1938, by sacrificing the unity of Czechoslovakia for the benefit of the IIIe Reich, it is generally that the hour is serious, that one is somewhat annoyed, or that one wants to exert maximum pressure on his adversary. Or all three at the same time.

“We are almost in a Munich situation”, launched Roselyne Bachelot on February 12 on BFM-TVaddressed to political parties of which she regrets “the avoidance strategy on the Ukrainian question”. However, the conflict “threatens the French much more than the two-year extension of retirement”, estimated the former minister of Jacques Chirac then Emmanuel Macron. Relevant, another classic argument, that this happens “a few thousand kilometers from us”she sighs : “We act as if none of that existed. »

The time seems long gone when Valérie Pécresse, candidate for the Les Républicains (LR) party in the 2022 presidential election, summed up her electoral setbacks with a formula: “The war in Ukraine crushes everything. » When Russia launched its tanks to attack its neighbor on February 24, 2022, the French presidential election was to be held two months later. Barely hours after the start of the offensive, Emmanuel Macron concedes it during an urgently organized address to the nation: war is hitting Europe. “We did everything to avoid it. She’s there “recognizes, martial, the head of state, in a fourteen-minute address to the French, followed by more than 21 million people, on March 2, 2022.

Read the survey: Article reserved for our subscribers War in Ukraine: facing Putin, a European denial

France places itself, without ambiguity, “on the side of Ukraine” and promise to “respond without weakness with coolness” to the invasion. The political landscape is paralyzed. There presidential campaign comes to a halt de facto. From Valérie Pécresse to Anne Hidalgo, no one in the political field can oppose Emmanuel Macron’s attitude, nor deny the efforts he has made, as that dinner in Moscow, on February 7, 2022, in an attempt to make the Kremlin host listen to reason. The head of state, not yet a candidate for re-election, is climbing in the polls when his opponents are sagging week after week. However, analyzes the Deputy CEO of Ipsos France, Brice Teinturier, “electorally, it did not cost Marine Le Pen and Jean-Luc Mélenchon that much to have supported Putin or to have had an ambiguous position on Ukraine”.

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