Ukraine: Ahead of Washington talks, Emmanuel Macron calls for a "new diplomatic phase"

The world's upheavals are waiting for no one. Emmanuel Macron has made this precept his guiding principle on an international stage now prey to "predators" and a national political life shaken up since the dissolution of June 2024. Between these two realities, the head of state is trying to compose his own score, he who wants to embody "Europe as a power," one capable of meeting the major challenges of the century (economic, technological, diplomatic, ecological, etc.) without sacrificing his values or his integrity.

For Emmanuel Macron, the war in Ukraine represents a distillation of all these challenges for Europe. "Through the Ukrainian conflict, we are redefining the rules of our collective security," the head of state assured journalists on Sunday, August 17, within the walls of Fort Brégançon (Var). "If we want to be free, if we want to be independent, we must be feared; if we want to be feared, we must be strong."

But time is now against the occupant of the Élysée Palace. Three years after the start of the Russian offensive against Ukraine, Emmanuel Macron is once again seeing the course of events accelerate. The summit held on August 15 between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin in Anchorage, Alaska, which resulted in neither a ceasefire nor an acceptable plan for resolving the Russo-Ukrainian conflict, initially excluding Ukraine from the negotiations, is a striking demonstration of this.

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