Latest news with #Elysée
LeMonde
12-07-2025
- Politics
- LeMonde
French army chief says Russia 'will pose a real threat before 2030'
General Thierry Burkhard had not spoken in public since the autumn of 2021. The chief of the French armed forces spoke on Friday, July 11, during a very rare press conference, broadcast live on television before a room full of journalists, to present what he described as an "overview of threats" facing France since the start of the war in Ukraine. This unprecedented exercise was explicitly requested by French President Emmanuel Macron during his visit to London, where Burkhard accompanied him. The aim was to prepare the ground for the president's upcoming announcements regarding the military budget, scheduled for the Sunday evening, on the eve of the Bastille Day parade, and described as "major" by the Elysée. While the military programming law, passed in 2023, provides for some €400 billion for defense between now and 2030 – a record amount – this budget is already proving too small to meet the needs of the armed forces. This increasingly criticized budgetary drift is causing concern within the institution, compounded at the end of June by the Trump administration's injunction to NATO allies to devote at least 3.5% of their GDP to their respective defense budgets by 2035. This target could mean an additional expenditure of tens of billions of euros for France, whose military spending is currently capped at 2% of GDP.
LeMonde
04-07-2025
- Politics
- LeMonde
Macron and Starmer will co-chair Ukraine talks in the UK
President Emmanuel Macron and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer will co-chair talks with other European leaders on boosting Ukraine's defences, during the French leader's visit to the United Kingdom next week, the Elysée Palace said on Friday, July 4. Macron will pay a state visit to the UK from July 8 to July 10, and he will receive a royal welcome and address parliament. "There will certainly be a discussion on how to seriously maintain Ukraine's combat capability," the Elysée said, adding that Starmer and Macron will co-chair the video conference meeting of Kyiv's allies. The meeting, on July 10, will come as United States-led peace talks on ending the more than three-year-old war against Ukraine have stalled. The US, Ukraine's biggest military backer since the launch of Russia's full-scale invasion in 2022, said, on Tuesday, that it was halting some key weapons shipments to Ukraine. During the Ukraine meeting, Macron and Starmer will speak to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and other leaders, including German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, the French presidency said. 'Reassurance force' The summit will touch upon the deployment of "a reassurance force" to Ukraine after a ceasefire, the Elysée said. The discussions will also focus on "how to increase pressure on Russia to accept an unconditional ceasefire that it has consistently refused," the French presidency added. Moscow has, in recent weeks, ramped up missile and drone attacks on Ukraine, as US support for Kyiv has appeared to waver under US President Donald Trump. Trump and Russian leader Vladimir Putin spoke by phone on Thursday. The US president said he made no progress with Putin on ending the Ukraine war, as the Kremlin insisted Putin would stick to his aims in the conflict.
Local France
04-07-2025
- Politics
- Local France
Macron to co-chair Ukraine talks with Europe leaders while in UK: Elysée
'There will certainly be a discussion on how to seriously maintain Ukraine's combat capability,' the Elysée said, adding that Starmer and Macron will co-chair the meeting of Kyiv's allies by video link. The meeting, on July 10th, will come as US-led peace talks on ending the more than three-year-old war against Ukraine have stalled. The United States, Ukraine's biggest military backer since the launch of Russia's full-scale invasion in 2022, said it was halting some key weapons shipments to Ukraine. Macron will pay a state visit to the United Kingdom from July 8th to July 10th , when he will receive a royal welcome and address parliament. During the Ukraine meeting, Macron and Starmer will speak to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and other leaders, including German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, the French presidency said. The summit will touch upon the deployment of 'a reassurance force' to Ukraine after a ceasefire, the Elysee Palace said. Advertisement The discussions will also focus on 'how to increase pressure on Russia to accept an unconditional ceasefire that it has consistently refused,' the French presidency added. Moscow has in recent weeks ramped up missile and drone attacks on Ukraine, as US support for Kyiv has appeared to waver under US President Donald Trump. Trump and Russian leader Vladimir Putin spoke by phone on Thursday. The US president said he made no progress with Putin on ending the Ukraine war, as the Kremlin insisted Putin would stick to his aims in the conflict.
LeMonde
26-06-2025
- Politics
- LeMonde
From Iran to Gaza, Macron's diplomatic crusade is strewn with pitfalls
Diplomats had believed it possible: French President Emmanuel Macron would, they said, have a private meeting with United States President Donald Trump during the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) summit, held in The Hague, Netherlands on Tuesday, June 24 and Wednesday, June 25. There, he was expected to make Europe's voice heard on Iran, Gaza and Ukraine. According to the Elysée, the two leaders had maintained a "special relationship" for years, one marked by firm handshakes and knee slaps, as they displayed in their meeting in Washington last February. Yet nothing happened: No words were exchanged, no one-on-one meeting took place at The Hague. "I did not have the opportunity to speak with him there," Macron told journalists as he left the summit. The connection, based on personal relations between the French and American presidents, had grown weak. In Paris, Macron's advisers tried to downplay the disparaging remarks Trump made after leaving the G7 summit in Kananaskis, Canada, on June 16, when the American president described his French counterpart as a man who "always gets it wrong" and is constantly "seeking publicity." "It does not bother me," Macron replied. Yet a source at the Elysée could not recall when the two last spoke by phone. The "hug diplomacy" had reached its limits, quipped former French foreign affairs minister Dominique de Villepin.
Local France
19-06-2025
- Politics
- Local France
France plans European ‘initiative' to end Iran-Israel conflict
At a national security council meeting, Macron ordered Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot to draw up 'an initiative with close European partners that would propose a demanding negotiated settlement to put an end to the conflict', it said, without giving details on the nature of the plan. Barrot has been in regular touch with his German and British counterparts since Israel launched massive air strikes against Iran on Friday. All three countries were involved in talks that led to a landmark 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and world powers to curb Tehran's nuclear activities in exchange for relief from sanctions. The United States withdrew from that accord during President Donald Trump's first term. Macron also urged Israel to end strikes on targets in Iran not linked to nuclear activities or ballistic missiles. Advertisement He voiced 'concern over the current escalation, with Israeli strikes increasingly hitting targets not linked to Iran's nuclear or ballistic programme, and a mounting number of civilian victims in Iran and Israel', his office said. He said it was 'necessary to urgently end these military operations, which pose significant threats to regional security', it added. The French president also urged the foreign ministry to take measures to help French citizens leave Israel or Iran if they wished to do so, the Elysée added, without providing further details.
