Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has become a heated talking point amongst French presidential candidates, who are racing to position themselves on the crisis in the lead up to the polls. EURACTIV France reports.
Following a meeting between the candidates and Prime Minister Jean Castex in Matignon on Monday (28 February), the candidates highlighted the importance of holding a democratic debate during the presidential election campaign, despite the situation in Ukraine.
With less than six weeks to go before the first election round, some are fearful that their campaigns might be overshadowed by the crisis, and are keen to position themselves on the conflict.
As a result, some have been contradicting themselves in relation to previous statements, causing others to call their credibility into question.
A ‘legitimacy risk’
If President Emmanuel Macron were to be re-elected in April, there would be “a risk of legitimacy during the [next] term”, Senate President Gérard Larcher told broadcaster Europe 1 Tuesday morning.
Macron has not yet officially announced that he will run for re-election, although it is expected.
The Senate president, who is also a supporter of right-wing candidate Valérie Pécresse, explained that this risk would stem from a “form of omission of democratic debate”, if one was not to be held on the progress of the last five years during which Macron has been president.
This concern, which has been voiced by all candidates, has been reinforced by Macron’s own suggestion a few weeks ago that he will not participate in any debates before the election’s first round.
However, according to information reported in Le Monde, Macron’s majority says it hopes “the campaign will proceed as normally as possible” and that “the current situation does not prevent us from talking about all the issues that interest the French, whether it be purchasing power, Europe, energy, or sovereignty”.
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An opportunity for ‘clarification’
Candidates wasted no time in pointing out the contradictions of their political opponents.
Left-wing MEP Raphaël Glucksmann told France Inter public radio Tuesday morning that he wants to believe that after a time when “we [a part of the French political class] had an incredible complacency towards [Russian President] Putin’s wars of aggression”, the time has come for a “clarification for everyone”.
The Socialist Party, for which Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo is the presidential candidate, used past stances of radical left candidate Jean-Luc Mélenchon of La France Insoumise, accusing him of being “an ally and supporter” of Putin.
The Greens also denounced Mélenchon’s complacency towards Putin’s authoritarian regime. Their candidate, Yannick Jadot, accused the radical left leader of hiding “behind a certain relativism on fundamental freedoms and democracy, which is dangerous in this period” in front of the Russian embassy in Paris last Tuesday.
Mélenchon’s “anti-American obsession” had in the past led him to say of Vladimir Putin that he was “a hero for Syria”, Hidalgo said in newspaper L’Express.
However, while he previously said Putin was a victim of NATO’s aggressive attitude, and until a few weeks ago did not believe in the possibility of a Russian invasion of Ukraine, he now says he is “the only to one” to have warned that a threatened Russia would not hesitate “to cross the borders”, and condemned the military attack.
Following a question on the union of the left, Glucksmann responded, saying “we don’t care […] because there are moments in history […] when we are faced with our own conscience and we have to choose.” He called for implementation of the necessary support for the Ukrainian people, without any ambiguity or complacency towards the Russian authorities.
In the right-wing camp, Pécresse setting herself apart
For Pécresse, the situation has been an opportunity for her traditional right camp to assert its legitimacy and distance itself from its far-right rivals’ leniency towards the Russian autocrat.
Far-right candidate Éric Zemmour, who on Monday described Putin as an “authoritarian democrat”, made a “bet” in December that Russia would not invade Ukraine, and analysed the Russian attitude as a response to a supposed NATO aggression.
“The Americans have not kept their word and have advanced, advanced [and] eaten up this glacis little by little,” he said in January. Questioning himself whether Putin was the victim of aggression, he considered that “obviously, afterwards, he defends himself.”
A similar tone was adopted until now by Rassemblement National leader Marine Le Pen, who at the start of February explained on broadcaster France Info that “we are creating a conflict that has no reason to exist” because the United States “absolutely wants to bring Ukraine into NATO”.
Pécresse has thus, to an extent, been able to set herself apart from her rivals on the right by what she herself has called a “sense of responsibility” which she wants to demonstrate throughout this crisis.
However, former members of her political family, such as the former Prime Minister François Fillon who led her party in the 2017 elections, have in the past colluded with Russian companies – raising questions over their interests being with a country that is now an enemy of the West.
Fillon eventually resigned from his positions on the boards of directors of oil giants Sibur and Zarubezhneft, following an outcry of the French public. Pécresse, previously embarrassed by this controversy and now intent on moving forward, voiced that this was an honourable decision.
Another way that Pécresse has differentiated herself from other candidates was the creation, within her campaign team, of a strategic defence council in charge of “following the evolution of the conflict” and contributing “to the vision that she intends to carry on the role and place of France in Europe and in the world”.
Pécresse has accused the far-right of naivety towards Russia and wants to propose an alternative vision to that of Macron’s party, without undermining the diplomatic efforts of the government and the outgoing president.
While the Ukraine crisis appears to have crystallised tensions at the political level, it also has the merit of allowing candidates, ahead of the elections in April, to clarify their positions and for a light to be shed on their inconsistencies that for too long have fuelled their speeches.
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[Edited by Nathalie Weatherald]
Source: euractiv.com
