PARIS: French President Emmanuel Macron said Tuesday that France must not be “weak” faced with the threat from Russia, while emphasising it had no intention of “sending our young people” to fight in the Ukraine war.
“We would be wrong to show weakness in the face of this threat. If we want to protect ourselves, we French — which is my sole concern — we must demonstrate that we are not weak against the power that threatens us the most,” he told RTL radio in an interview.
Macron is expected to make an announcement later this week on a voluntary form of military service, after France scrapped compulsory service in 1997.
He told RTL he would be announcing a “transformation of national service into a new form” on Thursday, but did not provide further details.
A source with knowledge of the matter, speaking anonymously because not allowed to speak to the press, has told AFP that the plan is for 2,000 to 3,000 people to be trained up in the first year, aiming to increase those signing up over time to 50,000 per year.
Macron however stressed that France had no intention of sending its youth to the frontlines.
“It is absolutely necessary, at least immediately, to dispel any confused idea suggesting that we are going to send our young people to Ukraine,” he said.
France’s top general last week caused alarm after warning that the country must be ready to “lose its children” against the background of the threat posed by Russia.
Macron said the comments had been “deformed” and “taken out of context.”
“Soldiers who sign up make sacrifices, but to tell all French people that they are going to be sacrificed, that makes no sense,” he said.
Macron spoke ahead of a planned video call between the 30 countries of the so-called “coalition of the willing” supporting Kyiv on Tuesday afternoon.
If the war sparked by Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine ends in a ceasefire, the coalition aims to send a multinational force to deter any other Russian attack.
Macron says France must not be ‘weak’ faced with Russia ‘threat’
https://arab.news/9xra8
Macron says France must not be ‘weak’ faced with Russia ‘threat’
- France wants peace, but not one that allows Russia to continue expanding its aggression, which would endanger the security of other European countries
Trump tells Britain he does not need its help to win Iran war
- Rejects deployment of UK aircraft carriers to help the US and Israel in their war with Iran
- Trump was reacting to reports that the UK was preparing the Prince of Wales aircraft carrier for possible deployment
Trump was reacting to reports that the UK was preparing the Prince of Wales aircraft carrier for possible deployment
DOVER, US: President Donald Trump said on Saturday that Britain is giving “serious thought” to sending two aircraft carriers to the Middle East, but added that the US does not need them to win the war with Iran, in the latest clash between the military allies.
“The United Kingdom, our once Great Ally, maybe the Greatest of them all, is finally giving serious thought to sending two aircraft carriers to the Middle East,”
Trump said. "That’s OK, Prime Minister Starmer, we don’t need them any longer,” Trump posted to his Truth Social account.
“But we will remember,” he said. “We don’t need people that join Wars after we’ve already won!“
Trump posted the message shortly after attending the return of the first six US service members killed in the Middle East war, at Dover Airforce Base in the northeastern state of Delaware.
British media reports say the Royal Navy is preparing the HMS Prince Wales, an aircraft carrier currently at Portsmouth in southern England, for possible deployment to the Middle East, but no final decision had been made.
Trump has said he is “not happy with the UK,” mocking Starmer by saying “this is not Winston Churchill that we’re dealing with.”
The social media post comes after the British Ministry of Defense said on Saturday it was preparing the Prince of Wales aircraft carrier for possible deployment.
But no final decision has been taken about whether to deploy the aircraft carrier to the Middle East, a British official said.
Starmer has defended his decision not to allow US forces to use British bases to support initial strikes on Iran, saying he needed to be satisfied that any military action was legal and well planned.
He later granted US forces permission to use British bases for what he called defensive strikes against Iranian missiles in storage depots or launchers.
Starmer earlier this year criticized Trump’s desire to buy Greenland and said his comments that European troops avoided frontline combat in the war in Afghanistan were “frankly appalling.”
