Sunday, 11 February 2024, 23:33
11.02.2024 20:22
French Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs Stephane Sejourne has said he believes that Europeans should do more for their own security and support for Ukraine. Therefore, all proposals, including the idea of Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas about military support to Ukraine, are on the table.
According to Ukrinform, the French foreign policy chief said this in an interview with France’s Ouest-France, Poland’s Gazeta Wyborcza and Germany’s Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung
“Ms Kallas’ proposal is that of a loan of one hundred billion euros to be able to give visibility to Ukraine which is engaged in a protracted war. This is a proposal that we are looking at carefully. We have the European Peace Facility (EFF) which could be supplemented by five billion euros in 2024. There are also reflections on the proceeds from taxes on income generated by frozen Russian assets,” Sejourne said.
According to him, the main subject is bilateral and European aid, as well as the creation of legal framework for this.
Kallas earlier proposed that all countries that are part of the coalition in support of Ukraine allocate 0.25% of their GDP for Ukraine’s military needs. In her opinion, this could turn the tide of the war.
Sejourne also said that active work on a bilateral security agreement between Ukraine and France was ongoing, but he did not specify when exactly it could be signed.
“We are working on it. We discuss French capabilities and Ukrainian requests in terms of the delivery of military equipment. We will be there to provide aid to Ukraine over the long term,” he said.
In the current geopolitical context, Europe needs to prepare for defense and organize it more coherently.
“The subject is existential and we must find security guarantees as Europeans. Twenty-seven of us. We will have to agree to further pool our military equipment, create interactions between our armies, and gradually have greater military integration. In industrial and operational matters. This is clearly part of our European sovereignty agenda,” the minister said.
Photo: European Parliament
(C)UNIAN 2024
It seems that certain leaders are trying to outdo each other in calling out to others to do more, yet they themselves are not doing the max of what they could. Is this impression right?
Well, my impression, too. Sejourne really should be asked, why doesn’t France lead by example? Their support hasn’t been exactly outstanding so far.
“We will be there to provide aid to Ukraine over the long term”.
Anyone care to tell this guy that there won’t be a long term if the short term isn’t dealt with!!’ Geez what a putz.
Indeed, his words would be received more warmly if they came with at least 100.000 155mm shells.
Let us be very clear: the Germans having brought fascism back to Europe, they will never do enough to correct their damage towards the Ukrainians and all the other peoples who have to suffer from the situation..
I don’t believe there is any other people who have caused such disorder in the world in the 20th and 21st centuries.
The German army had kept some old stuff, which fortunately can still play a role against drones in Ukraine. happy luck.
Germany is one of the countries which makes three announcements for the same given equipment. it is yet another German organization which gives a classification of assholes on the control of weapons (an asshole since everything is not done in broad daylight) and that the aid is not only military.
what’s more, Germany values what it gives at the price of new!
As a European member, France is the 2nd contributor.
Besides, France doesn’t have any old things to give away like the Germans. his army does not stay in barracks.
France is for a “European power”, that is to say an adult autonomous actor (which it is with its nuclear deterrent).
she is not for being a teenage actor in her mother’s skirts, who is afraid of giving tanks, who is afraid of giving missiles, who is against Ukraine’s entry into NATO by the way.
France is not betraying Europe. She works to make Europe a positive alter ego of the USA. a partner capable of saying be careful, you’re going to do something stupid – like a true friend would do and not a servile servant.
the USA only has dictatorships as alter egos, this is not a lasting or honorable situation.
Surprisingly in any position the Germans are arrogant, excessive in everything, we learn that Scholtz laughs at Carlson’s interview. there is nothing to laugh about, especially when we are not capable of providing Taurus missiles, when out of greed we have chained ourselves upstream and downstream to two aggressive dictatorships which are jeopardizing our chances of survival in the face of climate change.
You French and can’t stand criticism of your government?
Whatever, as far as I know, the calculation of weapon delivery values is based on market prices, according to age and condition, as is reasonable. High quality weapons like Panzerhaubitze 2000 and Leopard 2 have never been cheap. Also, Germany delivered many brand new goods, most importantly the state-of-the-art and highly successful Iris-T systems. The also delivered Patriot launchers can’t be bought anywhere at bargain prices, neither. Same is true for highly specialzed equipment like Radar stations.
Being well aware that an army requires not only arms and ammunition, but also a wide array of other equipment, our Bundeswehr contributed lots of goods that don’t make it into media reports, but are still essential, like over 100.000 tourniquets that save lives (did you read about Ukrainian complains about tourniquets the AFU bought from China?). There’s also lots of clothing included, helping to cover the demands of Ukraine’s large army, which apparently had trouble at procuring such stuff on its own. More costly are hundreds of vehicles, of course, like Mercedes Zetros trucks. This all sums up to many billions. Now, I’m not aware how France calculates the value of its own deliveries, but I’m rather certain this isn’t based on scrap metal worth and recycling value.
All in all, I believe my country hasn’t to be ashamed of its level of support for the fellow democracy being under attack, even though I think more could and should be possible, especially regarding ammunition, tanks and Taurus missiles. Please note that the German industry significantly increased its capacities and also works on the deliveries by other countries. There’s lots of weapons still ‘in the pipeline’ there. For the official details of German deliveries, please check here:
https://www.bundesregierung.de/breg-en/news/military-support-ukraine-2054992
As for your smearing of modern Germany’s commitment to peace and human rights, I don’t think this merrits any response. Every reasonable person can see that this accusation is utter nonsense.