The war in Ukraine occupied the National Assembly on Tuesday 1is March, with a declaration by Jean Castex followed by a debate without a vote, listened to attentively, from the stands, by the Ukrainian ambassador Vadym Omelchenko, installed between two flags in the colors of his country. On this occasion, the majority but also most of the oppositions supported the initiatives of the government frontally opposed to Moscow. Jean-Luc Mélenchon structured a more dissonant position while Damien Abad, the leader of the Les Républicains deputies, attacked the far-right candidates for the Elysée, as well as the herald of La France insoumise, for not having not always, in the past, denounced Vladimir Putin.
Jean Castex opened the session with a speech in which he assured that the head of the Kremlin «A menti» :
No, no genocide took place against the Russian-speaking populations of Donbass, no, there are no nuclear weapons on Ukrainian soil, no, Mr. Zelensky [le président du pays] is not the head of a Nazi regime.
According to him, Vladimir Putin “made the choice to want to reverse the course of history”with a “cynical and premeditated aggression” what “France condemns in the most absolute way” and to which the West must react “in unity and over time”. For him, the resolution against the war discussed Friday at the Security Council of the United Nations, certainly not adopted because of the veto of the Kremlin, all the same “allowed to demonstrate the isolation of Russia”.
“When did our Parliament decide it? »
“We thought we had established peace between nations on our continent,” engaged Olivier Becht, the president of the Groupe Agir ensemble, member of the majority, who praised the “unparalleled will of President Emmanuel Macron”, and all at the same time the package of economic sanctions against Moscow, support for the Ukrainians by sending arms and humanitarian aid, and the dispatch of French soldiers to Estonia and Romania. Christophe Castaner, the president of the group La République en Marche, recalled that in May 2017, when Emmanuel Macron received Vladimir Poutine in Versailles, “He wanted to be extremely clear, to recall France’s values without compromise and without weakness”.
Jean-Luc Mélenchon (La France insoumise), particularly awaited because of the accusations of complacency for Vladimir Poutine brought against him, discussed more, under the boos of many deputies, the decisions taken by the government:
“I regret that the European Union has decided, and I quote, to ‘provide the armaments necessary for a war’. (…) This decision would make us co-belligerents. A gear engages, with what legitimacy? When did our Parliament decide that? »
Cut Russia off from the Swift system, the international interbank exchange system, “Isn’t this starting a global escalation by pushing Russians and Chinese to use their own circuits exclusively from now on?” »he also asked.
The candidate for the Elysée instead proposes“to open a special session of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe”and to convene a “European Border Conference”. Another avenue for de-escalation, according to him, is a “proclamation of the neutrality of Ukraine” which could appease the ire of the master of the Kremlin, furious at Kiev’s desire to join NATO. “President Zelensky said he was officially ready for it”, said Mr. Mélenchon.
“Unhealthy Fascination”
The ongoing crisis “questions all past certainties and doctrines”, he continued. To his eyes, “Another world geopolitical order is already taking hold starting from Asia, Russia and China are creating a new bloc. Alas, we were unable to promote Europe from the Atlantic to the Urals”.
Speaking on behalf of Les Républicains deputies, Damien Abad, the president of the group, brutally brought the presidential campaign into the debate by attacking Jean-Luc Mélenchon, Marine Le Pen and Eric Zemmour head-on for not having always, in his eyes, sufficiently denounced Vladimir Putin:
I accuse Mr. Zemmour, Mr.me Le Pen and Mr. Mélenchon for having maintained an unhealthy fascination with Poutine’s model. I accuse them of having behaved more than ambiguously with regard to the Russian power, and I accuse them of compromises which cast irreversible discredit on their ability to lead the country. And I ask a simple question: what would they have voted in the Security Council? Would they have abstained like China?
All the speakers of the day will have, in any case, competed in firmness in their condemnations of the brute force chosen by the Russian leader. “There are no limits to this dictator’s ambition to restore an empire”, declared Jean-Christophe Lagarde, the president of the UDI and independent group, even if, for him, more generally, “the absence of democracy in Russia will remain a permanent danger, Putin or no Putin”. “The invasion, nothing can excuse it, nor put it into perspective”, also took care to insure Jean-Luc Mélenchon.
“Vladimir Putin the irresponsible, the warmonger, who has been distilling the poison of nationalism for years, (…) will find in this war only desolation for its people, the collapse of its economy and dishonor for its regime”, for his part mocked Fabien Roussel, communist candidate for the Elysée and deputy belonging to the Democratic and Republican Left Group, who spoke of the “unspeakable suffering” from Ukraine. Ukraine, of which Olivier Faure (socialists and relatives) said he wished, ” As many “ in the hemicycle, that she “become one day soon our 28e star “ within the European Union.