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Emmanuel Macron’s main partner in the proposal to deploy military trainers to Ukraine has cast doubt on its prospects, as the French president has been weakened in recent elections in his country.
Lithuania’s President Gitanas Nauseda said the plan does not have widespread support and that without consensus, “the idea is likely to remain unresolved and in limbo.” He spoke to Bloomberg News on the sidelines of a NATO leaders’ summit in Washington on Wednesday.
He said, “We do not think that President Macron will take any further steps to solve this problem.”
At the D-Day ceremony on June 7, Macron said he was working on a coalition to send trainers to the war-torn country in response to a request for support from Kiev. But this was just days before European Parliament elections on June 9 that upended his political plans.
Macron called for an immediate legislative vote after his party was defeated by far-right parties in the EU vote. While the far-right came in third, a coalition of left-wing parties won, meaning Macron may be forced to work with a prime minister from outside his centrist coalition.
A French official said the idea of sending instructors to Ukraine still stands and recalled that a bilateral security agreement with Kiev was approved in parliament earlier this year with the support of both left-wing and right-wing parties. The person added that the final decision in foreign policy rests with the president.
The French president’s idea for the trainers has received a mixed response. While some European officials welcomed it as an effort to confuse Russian President Vladimir Putin about allies’ intentions, others warned NATO members against the risk of being drawn into a wider war with the Kremlin.
NATO allies are already quietly sending a limited number of trainers to Ukraine. Larger training exercises organized by NATO allies are held outside the country, including in nearby Poland.
Although Ukraine welcomed Macron’s suggestion at the time, some allied officials criticised Macron’s initiative, saying it was a means to divert attention from France’s military aid to Ukraine, which lags behind that of larger allies.
Nauseda said the political turmoil in France is counterproductive for Ukraine, adding that “similar initiatives would raise questions — and are raising them.”
This article is generated from an automated news agency feed without any modifications to the text.
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