President Emmanuel Macron of France is taking an overdue if welcome lead in bolstering Europe’s support of Ukraine. In recent days Macron has pledged that there must be no limits to what Europe does to ensure that Ukraine does not fall. He has even said there are circumstances where French forces might be deployed to Ukraine.
His actions are important for two reasons.
First, because Ukraine is in desperate need of greater military support and political consolidation from its European neighbors. Contrary to the claims by the European Union and its member states that they are doing their fair share in support of Ukraine, there is much more that the Europeans should be doing. Macron belatedly appears to recognize that France’s rather paltry provision of aid to Ukraine has been inadequate. But by adopting this new stance, Macron also puts pressure on German Chancellor Olaf Scholz to discover some moral fortitude and provide Taurus cruise missiles to Ukraine.
Macron’s stance also simultaneously encourages the U.S. to maintain support for Ukraine. After all, if members of Congress see that the Europeans are finally taking the lead in Ukraine’s support it should be easier to persuade them to provide continued U.S. support to that country. It is in the U.S. national interest that Russia not succeed. Though House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) has struggled to figure it out, Putin’s actions have put some of America’s best allies at risk.
Macron’s shift here is striking. After all, until now the French president had fancied himself as Europe’s leading interlocutor with Putin. But while France’s tolerance for Russian money is sadly unabated, at least on defense, Macron is putting his money where his mouth is. The French defense budget is set to grow significantly in the coming years. That will mean less French skimping on NATO defensive efforts, which is good news, in that France has Europe’s second most militarily capable and professional military.
So what precipitated Macron’s about-face?
Well, it’s partly about consolidating European defenses in the event that a more isolationist-minded Donald Trump returns to office. But Macron also appears to have realized that his much vaunted “strategic autonomy” narrative for European foreign policy needs teeth as well as rhetorical flourish. Russia has secured the initiative in Ukraine. And in the context of Putin’s imperialist ambitions toward the EU member Baltic states and Poland, Macron seems to have understood that Ukraine’s defeat would only signal the start of a longer, more direct confrontation between the EU and Russia. Always minded toward his place in history, Macron is also a devotee of “the European project’s” pursuit of an eventual European superstate. He seems to know that this project will be doomed if Russia is able to absorb or intimidate the EU’s eastern flank into political obedience. He also knows that the Germans will fold if that happens.
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Yes, Macron’s pro-China stance remains problematic in terms of undermining U.S.-led efforts to confront China’s endemic global espionage and its imperialist aggression in the East and South China Seas. Still, it is crucial that Europe take a more forward-leaning stance in confronting Putin’s aggression. This is important both in better deterring Russia against expanded threats to NATO and in helping Ukraine to gradually attrit Russian forces and resolve.
Top line: Ukraine’s improved capacity to defend itself and a reinforced European resolve to deter Russian aggression is good news for Ukraine, Europe, and America. Macron deserves praise for his policy shift.