On Friday President Emmanuel Macron welcomed Volodymyr Zelensky to the Elysée with great fanfare. The Ukrainian president was in Paris to sign a ten-year bilateral military agreement for France to supply and finance Kiev’s war effort and reconstruction, having already signed similar agreements with Britain and Germany. But behind Macron’s window dressing is France’s acute embarrassment at its low level of military support for Ukraine since the war began nearly two years ago.

According to Germany’s highly respected Kiel Institute, cited in Le Monde, France is ranked 15th in terms of its military support for Ukraine. This is way behind the US’s contribution (€43.9 billion – equivalent to nearly £38 billion) which alone totals more than the whole of Europe’s. Germany comes second (after its initial reluctance) and the UK third. According to Kiel, France’s contribution to Kiev is €600 million (£513 million), compared to the UK’s £9.3 billion and Germany’s €17.7 billion (£14.6 billion).

The result of such an agreement would be a straitjacket for British foreign policy

Macron’s recent claim that France will defend Ukraine as long as it takes therefore rings hollow. All the more so when the French president constantly turns down Ukraine’s request for French Mirage 2000D ground attack aircraft.

Ironically, France’s miserly support for Ukraine comes at a time when Macron is unabashedly pushing the EU to develop its collective defence. But it has not gone unnoticed by France’s EU partners, foremost among them Germany and Poland. Unerred by criticism – as is his wont – Macron is doubling down on integrated EU defence and his quest to lock Britain into it.

According to the Guardian, one of Macron’s close foreign policy advisors and member of the French parliament’s European committee, Benjamin Haddad, was in London recently to discuss the UK’s role in this integrated European defence.

QOSHE - Britain should resist French pressure for a joint defence plan - John Keiger
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Britain should resist French pressure for a joint defence plan

6 2
18.02.2024

On Friday President Emmanuel Macron welcomed Volodymyr Zelensky to the Elysée with great fanfare. The Ukrainian president was in Paris to sign a ten-year bilateral military agreement for France to supply and finance Kiev’s war effort and reconstruction, having already signed similar agreements with Britain and Germany. But behind Macron’s window dressing is France’s acute embarrassment at its low level of military support for Ukraine since the war began nearly two years........

© The Spectator


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