The French president has assured that the objective of this trip is to highlight France’s commitment to the security of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and its partners in Eastern Europe, a region highly affected by the consequences of the war in Ukraine.
In order to encourage and support the French soldiers deployed near the Black Sea who are part of NATO’s response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, French President Emmanuel Macron traveled to the Mihail Kogalniceanu airbase in Romania, this Tuesday, June 14.
“No one knows what awaits us in the coming weeks and months, but we will do everything possible to end the Russian invasion, to help the Ukrainians and to continue negotiations,” Macron said at the Romanian base, where he was received by the prime minister of that country, Nicolae Ciuca.
The visit to Romania, a member country of the European Union (EU) since 2007 and of NATO since 2004, marks the start of a Macron tour of the region. There, the Gallic country currently has 500 soldiers stationed and is established as the leading combat country to respond to Russian attacks in neighboring Ukraine.
“We will do everything to stop the Russian war effort, to help the Ukrainian men and women, and to continue the negotiations,” Macron told his soldiers in a speech encouraging them in their work.
On Wednesday, the French president will meet with his Romanian counterpart, conservative Klaus Iohannis, and will later travel to neighboring Moldova for a meeting with the country’s president, Maia Sandu. Both republics share extensive borders with beleaguered Ukraine.
The war is real in the Ukraine. Elle est aux portes de la Roumanie et menace tout notre continent. Aux frontières de notre Union européenne, to prevent all attempts at destabilization and aggression against Europe, the engagement of our armed forces is fundamental. https://t.co/vbKIEdJ6xZ
— Emmanuel Macron (@EmmanuelMacron) June 14, 2022
According to the French spokeswoman, Olivia Grégoire, Macron is expected to discuss with both presidents the consequences of the war in Ukraine: the increase in refugees in Eastern European countries, the rise in energy prices, food complications due to the blockade of grain in the Ukrainian ports and, perhaps one of the issues that most worries the Russian Government, the application of Ukraine and Moldova to join the European Union.
Emmanuel Macron assured that he will continue to maintain his position as mediator in the negotiations between kyiv and Moscow, and that he will travel to Ukraine when the Ukrainian president, Volodímir Zelensky, “considers that my visit offers the greatest utility.”
However, the German newspaper ‘Bild am Sonntag’ published earlier this month that Macron and the prime ministers of Germany, Olaf Scholz, and Italy, Mario Draghi, will visit the Ukrainian capital this Thursday, June 16.
Controversial applications to join NATO
Weeks before the deployment of Russian troops on Ukrainian soil, on February 24, Russian President Vladimir Putin repeatedly asked the West not to allow Ukraine to join NATO, as one of the conditions for not invade the territory; However, kyiv’s intention to accede to the Military Alliance has not ceased and, instead, other countries have extended their request to the military bloc, provoking the anger of Moscow and political leaders related to the Kremlin.
And it is that just as Ukraine’s rapprochement with the European Union triggered Russia’s anger and gave rise to the intense ‘Maidan’ protests and later the Russian accession of the Crimean peninsula in 2014, Ukraine’s current request seems just another provocation to the patience of Moscow.
One of the Kremlin’s manifest fears is that, once Ukraine is accepted into NATO, the Alliance will extend to the Russian border and Western military pressure will shift further east.
The failed attempt to stop Ukraine’s entry into the military organization is joined by other requests from countries that have historically been neutral in geopolitical tensions.
Last month Sweden and Finland applied to formally join NATO, a decision backed by the West and in particular by US President Joe Biden, but openly rejected by Turkey and its president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
Turkey, a NATO member country, started a series of threats against the Nordic countries due to its desire to join the military bloc.
Ankara accused both countries of their relationship with organizations considered terrorist but singled out Sweden, in particular, for its proximity to the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), an armed political organization considered terrorist by the Turkish government and much of the international community.
“How can we trust them? Sweden is a breeding ground for terrorist organizations (…) We will not give in to joining NATO to those who apply sanctions against Turkey,” said Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Monday, May 16, after the official announcement of the application for membership of the two Nordic countries.
With its outright rejection of Finland and Sweden’s membership application, Turkey has the ability to block their entry because all 30 member countries of the organization must agree to the merits of the application.
However, Jens Stoltenberg, NATO’s secretary general, assured that Turkey has “clearly indicated its intention to block the process” and expressed his confidence that there will be “a common ground, a consensus on how to move forward on the issues of the accession”.
Quite a bid just weeks before the NATO Summit on June 29 and 30 in Madrid, Spain.
With AP and Reuters
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