French President Expected In Ukraine After Re-election (Analysis)
By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent Worthy News
PARIS (Worthy News) – French President Emmanuel Macron, who was re-elected on Sunday, is expected in Ukraine’s capital Kyiv to show Europe backs the wartorn nation, a leading analyst told Worthy News.
“He mentioned Ukraine in his victory speech,” noted Tara Varma, the Paris head and senior policy fellow at the think tank European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR).
“He should travel to Kyiv immediately with [German] Chancellor Olaf Scholz to demonstrate Europe’s support to Ukraine,” Varma told Worthy News.
The ECFR, an influential thinktank, also believes that Macron faces a difficult task as Europe struggles with the ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine. “Macron will have to take the mantle of European diplomatic leadership again,” Varma stressed. “He now needs to adjust his method to defend its European agenda. He should strive for a more inclusive, participatory Europe.”
Additionally, Macron needs “to ensure the ongoing French [European Union] EU presidency is a success. It ends on June 30, and there is an upcoming conference on the Western Balkans to be organized soon, which provides an opportunity to start rethinking the EU’s enlargement policy.”
However, several EU nations are reluctant to expand the 27-nation bloc further towards the East as it already faces tensions over rule-of-law concerns in Poland and Hungary.
Yet, “Macron’s victory means the pursuit of an ambitious project for Europe. He will be advocating to double down on the European sovereignty agenda: on tech, on defense, on fighting economic coercion,” explained Varma.
AMBIGUOUS AGENDA
Varma suggested, however, that Macron seems to have support from many voters for ambitious policies.
He won the presidential election far ahead with 58,8 percent of the votes, though the turnout was slightly lower than in the first round at 72 percent, the ECFR estimated. “He is the first president to be re-elected since the 5-year term was instituted in 2002,” Varma said.
However, political turmoil is expected as France heads to parliamentary elections in June. “The political reconfiguration that started five years ago will now be completed as new alliances are bound to emerge,” Varma said.
“The far left led by [Jean-Luc] Mélenchon and [his] La France Insoumise (LFI) is ambitioning to form a large left-wing union,” she explained. The union would include the Greens (EELV), the Communist Party (PCF), and the Socialist Party (PS).
“On the other side of the political spectrum, there is more ambiguity. Part of the right has already joined Macron. But the other part will have to decide whether to join Eric Zemmour or form another large mainstream rightwing party,” analyst Varma said.
The 44-year-old leader of the nuclear-armed nation faces tough weeks ahead, the analyst suggested. “Macron’s biggest challenge will be to create a sense of cohesion in an extremely fragmented country where the far-right gets 41 percent of the vote. Le Pen will do her best to capitalize on her result for the June parliamentary elections.”
And, “After an extremely intense two-week campaign, where the republican front seems to have resuscitated, most political parties are now looking at the parliamentary elections organized in June,” Varma said.
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