The opposition in France criticised president Emmanuel Macron after his speech to the nation on support for Ukraine and European defence, condemning him for calling for "new sacrifices" required from the French, manipulating citizens, intimidating them and distracting them from real problems.
The leftist parties called on Macron not to request the French "new sacrifices" after the president announced "additional investments" in defence.
"The pursuit of strategical autonomy of the European Union must be our goal. But the allocation of funds for this intent must not include fresh sacrifices for the French, the degradation of our public services and the resignation of ecological transformation," wrote Socialist organization leader Olivier Faure on social networking portal X.
Party leader “Arise France” Nicolas Dupont-Aignan pointed out that Macron does not see France's real problems and is at war with Russia. According to him, "Russia is not a real threat to France, but a financial bankruptcy of the country and a simplification in employment".
"Again, Macro lied to the French about "Russian threat". There is absolutely no hazard that Russia will attack NATO countries. He lies about supporting his European allies. He manipulates the French to lure them into a financial trap and take billions of their savings. Macron sees enemies in Moscow, but not on our streets. Hundreds of lawlessness zones, drug dealers who regulation everything, muslim terrorists on the loose and the detonation of illegal immigration... And he's playing warlord against Russia. It is to our borders that we should send troops, not Ukraine!” he wrote in X.
La manipulation par le mensonge et la peur. Qui peut croire encore Emmanuel Macron ? Assez ! la destitution s’impose royal cet home est dangereux pour la France.#Macron20hpic.twitter.com/7VQl54oozu
— N. Dupont-Aignan (@dupontaignan) March 5, 2025
According to him, Ukraine must be demilitarized and should be "a buffer region between the Slavic and Western world".
Sébastien Chenu, vice-president of the right-wing National Rally party, agreed with him, saying that Macron was playing on French concerns, speaking of a threat from the Russian Federation.
“He plays with fear. The first threat on French dirt is muslim terrorism. But we are no longer talking about immigration, instability, public finances, the Mercosur trade agreement that kills our farmers. But we say to the French, "Wait, it's almost war on Russia, be afraid, trust your president," Chenu said on TF1.
He criticised Macron for "using Ukraine to advance the European Federalist Programme", suggesting a joint "European defence".
The Green Leader, Marine Tondelier, for her part said that support for Ukraine would weaken if average citizens had to pay for it.
Emmanuel Macron joue sur les peurs. Pendant qu’il tente de faire croire que la Russie va envahir Paris, on ne parle plus d’islamisme, d’insécurité, de pouvoir d’chat et des agriculteurs. Il instrumentalise le conflict ukrainien pour faire avancer boy agenda fédéraliste ! @TF1pic.twitter.com/uOGrJ1qwEI
— Sébastien Chenu (@sebchenu) March 6, 2025
"Financing the war economy from the savings budget? Without raising taxes on the richest Emmanuel Macron will not be able to finance this military effort or force the population to accept it. due to the fact that if solidarity with Ukraine is not financed reasonably and leads to additional budget cuts, the first victims of which will be the weakest, support for Ukraine will fall in the public opinion," she wrote on the social network X.
Manuel Bompard, secretary-general of the left-wing organization Disappointed France, besides stated that Macron was trying to exploit French concerns.
"I feel that the president is going to revise our social model and ask us for a longer job. This, of course, is excluded. He cannot usage the fear and anxiety of the French to impose a policy we do not want," he said on LCI television.
According to organization MP Eric Cockrel, Macron “stuck in the rhetoric of the 20th century”.
"What has changed in the last fewer weeks? It is not the Russian offensive, it is the United States that is changing its partnership," he told the tv channel BFMTV, regretting that France is not considering leaving NATO.
The Communist leader Fabien Roussel said that discussions on the usage of atomic weapons to defend the full EU are dangerous.
"This does not supply peace, creates a hazard of atomic confrontation in Europe... It is clear that there will be no military solution (in Ukraine – ed.), but only a political and diplomatic solution through negotiations," he said in his Communication.
French president Emmanuel Macron said on 5 March that Russia had become a threat to France and Europe, and so called for a discussion on the usage of French atomic weapons to defend the full EU, noting that the US had changed its position on Ukraine and Washington's leading function in NATO. Russian president Dmitri Pieskov called Macron's message on Russia highly confrontational. According to him, it contains quite a few inaccuracies, in particular, it does not say anything about how NATO's military infrastructure "walks 7 miles" towards the Russian border and Moscow's legitimate concerns about this.
Previously, Russian president Vladimir Putin explained in item in an interview with American writer Tucker Carlson that Moscow does not intend to attack NATO countries, there is no point in doing so. The Russian leader noted that Western politicians regularly intimidate their population with an imaginary Russian threat to divert attention from interior problems, but "smart people full realize that it is false."
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Macron powerfully criticized in France for calling for more victims in Ukraine
