The French president, Emmanuel Macron, announced this Sunday that he and the British prime minister, Keir Starmer, have put on the table a “truce in the air, in the sea and in the energy infrastructure” of Ukraine that would last a month.
In an interview with the newspaper Le Figaro After S, the Gallic Head of State explained that the deployment of troops from other countries on the ground to maintain peace would be in a second phase of the plan.
“You have to realize that the front line is today the equivalent of the Paris-Budapest line. In case of Alto the Fire, it would be very difficult to verify that the front is respected,” he said. There will be no European troops on Ukrainian soil “in the coming weeks,” he said. Therefore “the question is how to use this time to try to obtain an accessible truce, with negotiations that will last several weeks and then, once the peace, a deployment,” once signed. “
Macron repeated that Europeans want peace, but “not at any price” or “without guarantees”, and called Europe again to spend massively in defense, with an objective around 3 or 3.5% of the gross domestic product (GDP). “For three years, Russians spend 10% of their GDP in defense. We must prepare for the future,” he said.
To build a European defense architecture, the extraordinary European Council of next March 6 will be key, where you must also discuss how to finance these measures.
“There are structural funds of cohesion and funds of existing programs that are not being used,” he observed, and added that he wants to “give a mandate to the commission to use innovative financing, that is, joint loans or the European stability mechanism to collect considerable sums together.” He estimated that, “initially”, Europe needs “about 200,000 million euros to be able to invest” in defense.
Shortly before, Macron said that all nations that attended the London Summit are determined to act to have lasting peace in Ukraine and to take measures to guarantee collective security. “Around the London table, we are all determined to act in favor of a solid and lasting peace in Ukraine and to guarantee our collective security,” said the Gallic president in the social network X hours after the meeting.
At the informal summit held in Lancaster House, which was also attended by the Ukrainian President, Volodimir Zelenski, the first steps to draw a strategy with which European countries guarantee Ukrainian security were taken if an agreement with Russia that stops the war is closed.
It is a molded plan between London and Paris, which would have “one or two more countries” and those that want to add in support, forming a coalition of volunteers, according to Starmer, and that will be subsequently transferred to Washington.
It was also agreed to reinforce military aid to Ukraine and economic sanctions to Russia, in the face of possible negotiations, as well as increase Ukrainian defensive capabilities that can deter new attempts at aggression.
With these measures, the issue of European Defense Architecture and the reinforcement of security investments, which will focus a good part of the debates on the Extraordinary European Council of next Thursday, March 6.
