French President Emmanuel Macron made a faux pas while talking to reporters this week on the sidelines of meetings in Paris with two dozen other European leaders regarding the state of the Ukraine war.
“We should not exclude that there might be a need for security that then justifies some elements of deployment,” Macron said. “But I’ve told you very clearly what France maintains as its position, which is a strategic ambiguity that I stand by.”
The French president admitted there is “no consensus” on the circumstances where Western nations might send troops to Ukraine. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz reaffirmed the position of NATO and the West regarding troop deployment has not changed. Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said, “support does not include the presence of troops from European or Nato states on Ukrainian territory.” When documents outlining the topics of discussion for the Paris meeting circulated, Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico broke his silence. “These topics,” he said, “imply that a number of NATO and EU member states are considering sending troops to Ukraine on a bilateral basis.” It’s enough to “send[ ] shivers down your spine.”
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