Zelensky discussed Macron’s China visit with French president

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky said Saturday he discussed with Emmanuel Macron his visit to China, after the French president raised ire over remarks he made relating to Taiwan.

Published: 16 April 2023 10:30 CEST

Zelensky discussed Macron's China visit with French president

France's President Emmanuel Macron (R) and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky walk on the tarmac of Velizy-Villacoublay airbase as they prepare to board a flight together in February 2023. Photo: MOHAMMED BADRA / POOL/AFP

The two leaders also “discussed the next steps in the organisation of a peace summit,” Macron’s office said in a statement.

Zelensky in December proposed a global summit to chart a path to peace in Ukraine, however no details emerged from the call on what is planned.

“I had almost an hour and a half conversation with French President Emmanuel Macron… The results of President Macron’s recent visit to China were discussed,” Zelensky said on social media.

Macron, who visited China last week, raised hackles on both sides of the Atlantic last weekend in an interview in which he said Europe should not be a “follower” of either Washington or Beijing or get caught up in any escalation over Taiwan.

The French president stood by his controversial comments on Wednesday on a visit to Amsterdam, saying that being a US ally did not mean being a “vassal”.

Macron’s visit to China was dominated by discussions on the war in Ukraine, with Beijing being a close partner of Moscow.

Zelensky said he had expressed gratitude to his French counterpart for “condemning the terrible and inhumane execution of a Ukrainian soldier by Russian war criminals”.

That comment referred to the emergence of a video apparently showing the beheading of a Ukrainian prisoner, which has prompted international outrage.

Russian authorities said Thursday they were examining the images to determine their authenticity.

On Saturday Macron reaffirmed that “France stands by the Ukrainian and international courts to ensure that no crime committed in the context of Russian aggression goes unpunished,” according to the Elysee.

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The far-right Rassemblement National (RN) is currently far ahead in opinion polls for the June 9th elections in France, with Emmanuel Macron’s centrist Renaissance party in a battle for second place with the Socialists.

The debate between Attal, 35, and Bardella, 28, who leads the RN’s list in the EU elections, will be the first head-to-head clash between the two leading figures in a new French political generation.

Polls have been making increasingly uncomfortable reading for Macron, who has had to fly to the French Pacific territory of New Caledonia to try to calm the violent unrest there.

Coming third would be a disaster for the president, who portrays himself as a champion of European democracy and bulwark against the far right.

The head of Macron’s party list for the elections, the little known Valérie Heyer, has failed to make an impact and was widely seen as losing a debate with Bardella earlier this month.

According to a Toluna-Harris Interactive study for French media, the presidential camp is stuck at just 15 percent of the vote and in a dogfight for second place with the Socialists – who are on 14.5 percent – led by former commentator Raphael Glucksmann.

The RN, by contrast, is soaring ahead on 31.5 percent.

The RN’s figurehead Marine Le Pen, who has waged three unsuccessful presidential campaigns, has sought to bring the RN into the political mainstream as she eyes another tilt at the presidency in 2027.

“There is a very clear signal that must be sent to Emmanuel Macron. He must suffer the worst possible defeat to bring him back to earth,” Le Pen told CNews and Europe 1 this week.

Bardella, who took over the party leadership from his mentor, is key to Le Pen’s strategy, a gifted communicator of immigrant origin with an expanding following on TikTok.

Attal, also one of the best debaters in Macron’s government, is expected to seek to portray Bardella as an extremist, complacent over the threat posed by Russia and who has little interest in Europe.

Apparently aware of the danger, Bardella on Tuesday said the RN will no longer sit in the EU parliament with the Alternative for Germany (AfD) faction, indicating it had lost patience with the controversies surrounding its German allies.

The head of the AfD’s list in the polls, Maximilian Krah, had said in a weekend interview that someone who had been a member of the SS in Nazi Germany was “not automatically a criminal”.

Bardella is “putting his credibility and the future of his movement on the line in the debate”, said the Le Monde daily, adding that a strong performance could see some RN supporters regard him as a stronger candidate in 2027 than Le Pen.

You can find a more detailed profile of Attal HERE and a look at Bardella HERE