In order to count on supremacy in the EU, France must make a turn in its foreign policy, approaching the positions of the countries of Eastern and Central Europe, finally, abandon the role of a "balancing force" in front of Moscow and significantly strengthen military support for Ukraine.
This is stated by a group of French researchers and analysts in an open letter published in the Le Monde newspaper, RFI reports.
The exact outcome of the Russian-Ukrainian war is still unclear, but the contours of post-war Europe are already beginning to be outlined, note the six signatories - French researchers and representatives of analytical centers.
The "center of gravity" will most likely shift to the east. The influence of France under such a schedule may weaken significantly. The French "traditional position of a 'balancing force' and dialogue with Moscow has been discredited within the framework of NATO, which has rallied again," the letter reads.
The rigidity of the French position towards the Kremlin and support for Ukraine's candidacy for membership in the European Union are "steps in the right direction", but "France must now abandon its illusory desire for the role of a "balancing force" in the face of Russia, which does not listen to and does not respect this outdated position. France should get closer to the positions of its allies in Central, Northern and Eastern Europe, who have shown greater insight into Russia," experts point out.
"Now the message of France is still being diluted, among our politicians and the political elite, there is a desire to position France again as a "balancing force" - when the president says that "it is not necessary to humiliate Russia", that it is necessary to achieve peace as soon as possible, even if and adds that it is up to Ukraine to decide under what conditions and when peace will be concluded," said Arthur Konigsberg, one of the signatories of the open letter, the head of the French think tank Euro Créative, which specializes in Eastern and Central Europe.
"We think that France should stop looking for the status of a "balancing power", in the context of this war, France cannot be one. It is a European state, it should be on the side of its partners in the European Union and NATO allies, on the side of Ukraine", - he emphasizes in the RFI commentary.
In order to count on European leadership, France should appear among the leading suppliers of military aid to Ukraine, the signatories indicate.
"As the first military power of continental Europe, France must act as its best ally," they say.
So far this is different. According to the Kiel Institute of the World Economy (Germany), at the beginning of October, France took the 13th place in the list of countries supplying military aid to Ukraine, being below the Czech Republic, Latvia and Estonia, not to mention Great Britain and Poland.
During the recent talks between the presidents of France and Ukraine, Emmanuel Macron said that France would "as soon as possible" increase military aid to Ukraine, particularly in the field of air defense, against the background of Russian attacks on the Ukrainian energy system.
The signatories of the open letter propose, firstly, to increase the special fund for military support to Ukraine, created in France, from 100 million to 4 billion euros. As Emmanuel Macron stated, these are funds that Ukraine can use to purchase weapons "directly from our industrialists."
"4 billion euros seems like a huge budget and amount. But, given the importance of the goals, for France to increase military support to Ukraine to such a level is quite achievable. France could open a credit line for 4-5 billion euros with our industrialists so that the Ukrainians then reimbursed the funds for 20 years," Artur Konigsberg notes.
Secondly, French researchers propose diversifying the range of weapons that France supplies to Ukraine, expanding it to include tanks and military aircraft.
"Of course, this would require months of training for Ukrainian aircrews. Even worse, we would have to take weapons from our under-resourced armies. But instead of stockpiling arsenals in case of a major confrontation, it is in our obvious interest to transfer some of them, to weaken a major potential adversary," the open letter reads.
"Such a step would strengthen the protection of the civilian population of Ukraine and help change the situation on the battlefield. France would become the first country to supply Western tanks and aircraft: this would strengthen its image and influence in Central, Northern, and Eastern Europe for a long time," added the letter's authors.
