Before his meeting with Chancellor Olaf Scholz in Berlin, French President Emmanuel Macron confirmed that he was not ruling out sending Western ground troops to Ukraine. “All of these options are possible,” Macron told television channels TF1 and France 2 on Thursday evening. “To achieve peace in Ukraine, you cannot be weak.” You have to look at the situation soberly. “And we must say with determination, will and courage that we are prepared to use the means necessary to achieve our goal of ensuring that Russia does not win the war.”
Macron will meet with Scholz in Berlin on Friday afternoon for a bilateral discussion. The two then meet the new Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk. It is the first meeting at the top level of this so-called Weimar Triangle since June 2023.
The talks take place almost three weeks after the memorable Ukraine conference in Paris, to which Macron invited around 20 heads of state and government and which resulted in a scandal. At the subsequent press conference, the President did not publicly rule out sending ground troops for the first time, after which Scholz publicly objected several times in the following days. “To put it bluntly: As German Chancellor, I will not send any soldiers from our Bundeswehr to Ukraine,” said the SPD politician.
Macron then declared during a visit to Prague: “We are certainly approaching a moment in our Europe when it is appropriate not to be cowardly.” Some people understood this as a reference to Scholz, who, unlike France, does not want to deliver cruise missiles to Ukraine. The Chancellor fears that Germany will become involved in the Ukraine war.
Scholz described his relationship with Macron as “very friendly” on Wednesday, despite all the differences in Ukraine policy. He could assure “that it is different than what many people think: Emmanuel Macron and I have a very good personal relationship – I would call it very friendly,” he said.
How Macron and Scholz want to reach a common denominator is unclear. Scholz has made it clear that his rejection of ground troops is an immovable red line. Before his visit to Berlin, Macron confirmed that he sees things differently. Since Russia is not setting any limits on its war of aggression against Ukraine, the West does not have to impose any limits on its support for the country in advance, he said. “The only one who would be responsible is the regime in the Kremlin, that’s not us,” the president said. “We will never lead an offensive, we will never take the initiative, France is a power of peace.”
“If Russia won, the lives of the French would change. We will no longer have security in Europe,” said the French president. One cannot seriously believe that Russian President Vladimir Putin, who has not adhered to any borders, would stop after a victory in Ukraine. “Wanting peace today means not letting Ukraine fall.”
