French President Emmanuel Macron has urged calm between US and Ukrainian Presidents Donald Trump and Volodymyr Zelensky, a day after a row at the White House that raised fears that America would cut aid to Ukraine and worsen relations with European allies.
"I think that after the irritation, everyone needs to return to calm, respect and acceptance, so that we can make concrete progress, because what is at stake is too important," the French president told the weekly Tribune Dimas and several other Sunday newspapers.
The Elysee Palace said that since Friday, when Trump and Zelensky clashed at the White House, Macron has spoken separately with both.
He also spoke with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, EU Council President Antonio Costa, and NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte to prepare for a summit that will bring together about fifteen European leaders on Sunday in London, to reaffirm support for Kiev, and to prepare for an extraordinary EU summit on defense on March 6.
The French president expressed hope that European Union countries will move quickly towards massive and joint financing, worth hundreds of billions of euros, to build a common defense.
The European Union's 27 members are scheduled to meet in Brussels on Thursday.
"We will give the European Commission a mandate to define the necessary capacities for building a common defense because we need to mobilize common funding of hundreds of billions of euros and quickly," Macron said in an interview with several newspapers to be published tomorrow.
A strategic dialogue with European countries that do not have nuclear weapons would "make France stronger," said Macron, who relaunched the debate on the highly sensitive issue of a European nuclear shield to strengthen Europe's security.
"We have a shield, they don't. And they can no longer depend on the American nuclear deterrent. A strategic dialogue is needed with those who don't have one and that would make France stronger," Macron said.
If Russian President Vladimir Putin, who has been carrying out attacks on Ukraine since 2022, is not stopped, "he will certainly move on to Moldova and perhaps further on to Romania," Macron warned.
"The possible withdrawal of American aid to Ukraine is not in the interests of the United States," the French president said, adding that what the United States has been doing for the past three years, since the war began, "is completely in line with its military and diplomatic tradition."
"If Washington were to agree to sign a ceasefire without any security guarantees for Ukraine, then its geostrategic deterrence capacity towards Russia, China and others would disappear on the same day," Macron said.
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