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Macron urges Ukraine’s allies not to be ‘cowards’

French President Emmanuel Macron on Tuesday urged Ukraine's allies not to be "cowards" in supporting the country to fight off the Russian invasion.

Published: 5 March 2024 16:10 CET

Macron urges Ukraine's allies not to be 'cowards'

Czech Republics Prime Minister Petr Fiala (R) shakes hands with French President Emmanuel Macron on March 5, 2024 in Prague. Photo by Ludovic MARIN / AFP

And Macron added that he “fully stood behind” controversial remarks made last week not ruling out sending Western troops to Ukraine, which sent a shockwave around Europe.

“We are surely approaching a moment for Europe in which it will be necessary not to be cowards,” Macron said on a visit to the Czech Republic, which is pushing a plan to buy weapons outside Europe for Ukraine.

ANALYSIS Does France have the military strength to send troops to Ukraine?

Speaking later after meeting his Czech opposite number Petr Pavel, he asked: “Is this or is it not our war? Can we look away in the belief that we can let things run their course?

“I don’t believe so, and therefore I called for a strategic surge and I fully stand behind that,” Macron said.

Most of Macron’s European allies said they would not send troops to Ukraine after his comments on February 26th. French officials also insisted any such forces could be sent to back operations such as de-mining or training roles rather than fighting Russian forces.

“We want no escalation, we’ve never been belligerent,” Macron said on Tuesday.

Macron was later to meet Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala and address a nuclear forum.

At a security conference in Munich last month, Pavel said the Czech Republic – an EU and NATO member of 10.8 million people – could collect a substantial amount of weaponry for Ukraine outside Europe.

He said that, working with Canada and Denmark, the Czechs had “identified” 500,000 rounds of 155-millimetre ammunition and 300,000 122-millimetre shells “which we would be able to deliver within weeks” with the needed funds.

The Financial Times said Prague was looking to amass $1.5 billion to pay for the munitions for Ukraine, which has been battling the Russian invasion for two years.

Fiala said at an international conference in Paris last week that around 15 nations, including France, were ready to join the initiative.

Macron reiterated on Tuesday that France backed the plan but did not say how much it might contribute. The Netherlands has already pledged to donate €100 million.

A French adviser said the Prague visit would be an opportunity to “discuss this initiative” and come up with further specifications.

Paris has so far tended to funnel defence spending into its domestic industry and favoured European weapons production for EU money.

Macron did throw his weight behind using revenues from frozen Russian assets in Europe to fund Ukraine’s defence, estimating them at €3-5 billion per year, but said the capital should remain untouched.

“We are not in favour of doing things forbidden in international law and opening a debate that I believe would weaken Europe,” he said.

Later, Macron is to address a nuclear forum in the Czech capital, attended by several French energy companies.

These include the power giant EDF, nuclear fuel distributor Orano and nuclear reactor producer Framatome.

EDF and South Korea’s KHNP are in contention for a multi-billion euro Czech tender to build up to four new units at its two nuclear power stations.

Macron’s visit to Prague follows an invitation from Pavel during the Czech president’s visit to Paris last December.

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Azerbaijan vehemently rejects the accusation it bears responsibility for the riots that have led to the deaths of five people and rattled the Paris government.

But it is just the latest in a litany of tensions between Paris and Baku and not the first time France has accused Azerbaijan of being behind an alleged disinformation campaign.

The riots in New Caledonia, a French territory lying between Australia and Fiji, were sparked by moves to agree a new voting law that supporters of independence from France say discriminates against the indigenous Kanak population.

Paris points to the sudden emergence of Azerbaijani flags alongside Kanak symbols in the protests, while a group linked to the Baku authorities is openly backing separatists while condemning Paris.

“This isn’t a fantasy. It’s a reality,” interior minister Gérald Darmanin told television channel France 2 when asked if Azerbaijan, China and Russia were interfering in New Caledonia.

“I regret that some of the Caledonian pro-independence leaders have made a deal with Azerbaijan. It’s indisputable,” he alleged.

But he added: “Even if there are attempts at interference… France is sovereign on its own territory, and so much the better”.

“We completely reject the baseless accusations,” Azerbaijan’s foreign ministry spokesman Ayhan Hajizadeh said.

“We refute any connection between the leaders of the struggle for freedom in Caledonia and Azerbaijan.”

In images widely shared on social media, a reportage broadcast Wednesday on the French channel TF1 showed some pro-independence supporters wearing T-shirts adorned with the Azerbaijani flag.

Tensions between Paris and Baku have grown in the wake of the 2020 war and 2023 lightning offensive that Azerbaijan waged to regain control of its breakaway Nagorno-Karabakh region from ethnic Armenian separatists.

France is a traditional ally of Christian Armenia, Azerbaijan’s neighbour and historic rival, and is also home to a large Armenian diaspora.

Darmanin said Azerbaijan – led since 2003 by President Ilham Aliyev, who succeeded his father Heydar – was a “dictatorship”.

On Wednesday, the Paris government also banned social network TikTok from operating in New Caledonia.

Tiktok, whose parent company is Chinese, has been widely used by protesters. Critics fear it is being employed to spread disinformation coming from foreign countries.

Azerbaijan invited separatists from the French territories of Martinique, French Guiana, New Caledonia and French Polynesia to Baku for a conference in July 2023.

The meeting saw the creation of the “Baku Initiative Group”, whose stated aim is to support “French liberation and anti-colonialist movements”.

The group published a statement this week condemning the French parliament’s proposed change to New Caledonia’s constitution, which would allow outsiders who moved to the territory at least 10 years ago the right to vote in its elections.

Pro-independence forces say that would dilute the vote of Kanaks, who make up about 40 percent of the population.

“We stand in solidarity with our Kanak friends and support their fair struggle,” the Baku Initiative Group said.

Raphael Glucksmann, the lawmaker heading the list for the French Socialists in June’s European Parliament elections, told Public Senat television that Azerbaijan had made “attempts to interfere… for months”.

He said the underlying problem behind the unrest was a domestic dispute over election reform, not agitation fomented by “foreign actors”.

But he accused Azerbaijan of “seizing on internal problems.”

A French government source, who asked not to be named, said pro-Azerbaijani social media accounts had on Wednesday posted an edited montage purporting to show two white police officers with rifles aimed at dead Kanaks.

“It’s a pretty massive campaign, with around 4,000 posts generated by (these) accounts,” the source told AFP.

“They are reusing techniques already used during a previous smear campaign called Olympia.”

In November, France had already accused actors linked to Azerbaijan of carrying out a disinformation campaign aimed at damaging its reputation over its ability to host the Olympic Games in Paris. Baku also rejected these accusations.