French President Emmanuel Macron told his nation that France and Europe should prepare for war as Russian aggression “knows no borders.” In televised remarks, Macron said Wednesday that Russian President Vladimir Putin “will not stop at Ukraine and is a direct threat to France and Europe.”
Macron said he plans to meet all European army chiefs in Paris next week, adding that France and Europe must be ready if the United States steps away.
His comments came as Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, the European Union’s most outspoken pro-Russia leader, arrived in Paris to meet Macron and plea for peace. “I want to understand what makes the French and pro-war stance rational,” he said. “If after three years, the warring parties have not been able to defeat Russia and secure victory for Ukraine, why do they think they can still win this war?” Orbán wondered.
He noted that Europe did not win the battle even “with the Americans in the war camp.” However, he stressed, “Now, when the Americans are no longer there—the pro-war camp is much weaker,” making winning more complicated. “Why do they think they can still win this war? That is what I want an answer to.”
Macron did not address the meeting with Orbán during Wednesday’s television appearance, instead saying that France and Europe must keep helping Ukraine “to resist until Ukraine can negotiate a peace with Russia that is solid for themselves and for all of us.”
He said no path to peace could happen through “abandoning Ukraine.”
In an implicit reference to Trump’s attempts to force Ukraine into peace talks with Russia, he added: “Peace cannot be concluded at any price.” He said: “Who can believe today that Russia would stop at Ukraine?”
He told the French this was the main reason for his television address: “I’m speaking to you tonight because of the international situation and its consequences for Europe. I know you are legitimately worried faced with the historic events that are shaking the world order.”
He stressed that the war in Ukraine, which left roughly one million dead and injured, continues with the same intensity. Yet, the “U.S., our ally, has changed its position on this war, supporting Ukraine less and allowing doubt to linger on what will come next.”
He said the increasingly “brutal” world was entering “a new era” and “it would be madness to stay a spectator in this world of danger.”
Macron announced that he would initiate a “strategic debate” on extending France’s nuclear deterrence umbrella to cover all of Europe. However, he stressed that the decision to use France’s nuclear arsenal would remain solely in the hands of the French president.
His proposal was partly in response to a request from Friedrich Merz, the likely future German Chancellor, who argued that with the U.S. potentially withdrawing, Europe must prepare for “the worst-case scenario,” a NATO military alliance “without U.S. security guarantees.”
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