The question, then, is: How far is Macron truly ready to go this time? His previous lofty rhetoric on Ukraine, after all, has not been matched by action. Most significantly, can he hope to prevail as a galvanizing Western leader if he fails to carry France with him?
All French opposition forces have already rounded on him. Marine Le Pen, on the far right, has pilloried his assertion that Western troops in Ukraine “shouldn’t be ruled out” as toying with “the lives of [France’s] children,” while far-left leader Jean-Luc Mélenchon said it was “madness” to pitch “one nuclear power against another nuclear power.” More mainstream forces, such as the Socialist Party and the conservative Les Républicains, also condemned the French president’s muscle-flexing.
Those are arguments that resonate strongly with voters in France — at a time when Macron’s centrist liberal party is polling far beneath the far left and far right ahead of June’s European election.
On news channels on Tuesday the talking points were about whether France should prepare itself for a war with Russia. And the answers were broadly: “No.”
“I really don’t understand why he said that, it can be seen as quite a dangerous, worrying idea, sending troops for the French. Especially if we don’t have any agreement within the EU,” said OpinionWay pollster Bruno Jeanbart.
For Jeanbart, Macron’s statement was more about “sending a message to diplomatic partners” after facing criticism for “his proximity” to Russia’s Vladimir Putin at the start of the war.