It wasn’t long ago when French President Emmanuel Macron fancied himself as Europe’s Vladimir Putin whisperer—somebody who could call up the Russian authoritarian, have an even-keeled conversation and talk some sense into him. This is precisely what Macron tried to do in the lead-up to Russia’s full-scale war in Ukraine. Four days before Putin gave the order, Macron, desperation in his voice, tried to test the Russian president’s interest in a diplomatic arrangement that could avert all-out war.
Macron’s gambit obviously didn’t work. Two years of destruction and hundreds of thousands of casualties later, the French president is no longer angling to be the one European head of state who understands Putin the best. Indeed, he has undergone a complete 180-degree pivot over the last several weeks, carving out a lane for himself as Europe’s most vociferous Russia hawk. The same man who once counseled Europe to avoid humiliating Russia is now giving numerous interviews on why Russia’s unconditional defeat is paramount. Macron even recommended that sending European ground troops into Ukraine shouldn’t be ruled out.
That proposal in particular has gotten him into trouble with his European colleagues. When Macron first unveiled it in late February, multiple European leaders came out immediately to, if not denounce it, then at least make it known that they had no interest in participating in such a scheme. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz told the press that “there will be no ground troops, no soldiers on Ukrainian soil who are sent there by European states or NATO states.” Poland, one of Ukraine’s biggest supporters in Europe, expressed the same.
Macron, though, is stubborn. On Thursday, he argued that the West shouldn’t set limits for itself since Putin would simply take advantage of them. Embedded deep in Macron’s psyche is the concept of being as ambiguous as possible so the Russians are kept guessing. Europe’s other big power, Germany, doesn’t see it that way and has always drawn a line about what Berlin is—and isn’t—willing to do to see Putin’s invasion flame out. If Macron was trying to deliver a message to Putin that Europe was united on Ukraine policy, his remarks did the exact opposite.
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