Who remembers the final days of the European election campaign, President Volodymyr Zelensky’s warnings to the Assemblée Nationale and President Emmanuel Macron’s announcements about sending combat aircraft to Ukraine? The earthquake of the Assemblée’s dissolution not only relegated the Ukrainian question to the background but also rendered the French president inaudible on the subject, though he tried to make it one of the issues of the European ballot.
In the two blocs dominating the debates, the Nouveau Front Populaire left-wing alliance and the far-right Rassemblement National (RN), the same observation can be made: The topic of Ukraine – and hence that of relations with Russia – is all but forgotten, hidden beneath a facade of unanimity or simply swept under the rug.
Socialist-backed Raphaël Glucksmann, who came out on top on the left (13.8%), constantly referred Jean-Luc Mélenchon’s La France Insoumise (LFI, radical left) to its past positions, sparking disagreements over Ukraine. The divisions were bridged with the drafting of a common policy platform aligning with the positions of the Socialists and the Greens, aiming to defeat Vladimir Putin’s aggression and defend Ukrainian sovereignty.
‘We had to fight over a lot of words’
MEP Aurore Lalucq emphasized the importance of clarifying the party’s stance on Ukraine, stating that it reflects their ideological program and identity. The subject is not only about geopolitical positioning but also about democratic convictions.
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