Macron’s military signal: The fear of an “unwilling” coalition

The tails of the French fighter pilots glowed blue, white and red as they passed over the Arc de Triomphe together with jets from eleven European countries. 6,800 soldiers marched from the Place de la Concorde across the Champs-Élysées, 500 of them from the supporting states of the Ukraineincluding 23 Austrian guardsmenwhich (not for the first time) were officially requested by France for representative purposes, according to the Ministry of Defense.

This year’s parade was much more than a national commemoration French Revolutionbut above all a sign of European military strength that is willing to support Ukraine: 24 European heads of state and government stayed in Paris after the “Coalition of the Willing” meeting on Monday to attend the largest military parade ever to mark France’s national holiday.

For President Emmanuel Macron it was the last in office before next year’s elections. And he strived to leave a lasting political impression. In his speech, he presented himself less as a French head of state than as one of Ukraine’s leading European supporters. He sees “a Europe that will not be characterized by the nationalisms that have worn it down for a long time,” but rather one that “unites the patriotism of its members and acts as one.”

The message followed Washington How Moscow: to a US president in whom many European heads of government have lost confidence, and to the head of the Kremlin Wladimir Putin.

Supporting Ukraine is an investment in our own security.

Emmanuel Macron / French President

The signs are not good for Ukraine: Europe was able to achieve this Donald Trump to compensate for the almost complete cessation of US military aid. Nevertheless, overall it is decreasing Military aid for Ukraine. Next year will be in France and Poland elected – two states that are among the main supporters of Ukraine. In both countries, right-wing radical parties with significantly more skeptical positions towards Kiev have a chance of success. Positions that have long been successful in other countries: Bulgaria has changed under its new Eurosceptic Prime Minister Rumen Radew passed from the coalition in protest against military support for Ukraine. Radev only came to the parade. Also the upcoming one Premierwechsel in London harbors uncertainty.

Macron promises practice maneuvers

Macron wants to defy this and finally prepare concrete actions for the “coalition of the willing”, which was founded last year with the willingness to form a “purely defensive” coalition after the end of the war. Peacekeeper to secure the ceasefire. On Monday he surprised everyone with an advance: joint maneuvers in Ukraine’s neighboring countries.

Premier of Poland Donald Tusk According to the report, the first exercises will take place in Poland in the fall to practice the coalition’s operational plans. Macron spoke of a multinational force that was already ready for action. He did not specify which countries belonged to this. Alongside France and Poland, Great Britain has confirmed its participation in the exercises.

Austria “watching”

Austria has observer status in the “Coalition of the Willing” – with nine other European countries – Chancellor Christian Stocker (ÖVP) has been at the meeting in Paris since Monday. According to the Federal Chancellery, this does not represent an erosion of neutrality: people take part in the meetings, actively participate in the discussions, but do not provide military support.

As far as the planned exercises are concerned, it is said that “since no details have yet been determined, it is also not clear how participation is conceivable practically, legally and within the framework of neutrality”. Austria has mainly supported Ukraine since the beginning of the war humanitarian aid and investments in Energy sector.

Joint missile defense

Given the ongoing Russian Ballistic missile attacks France, Germany, Denmark, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden and Great Britain have established industrial cooperation with Ukraine for one Missile defense agreed: The aim is to upgrade the country’s air defense – ballistic missiles are currently Ukraine’s most pressing problem; 19 people were killed in Kiev on Tuesday night alone. Although the USA promised Ukraine a license to build ammunition for US Patriot anti-missiles at the NATO summit, at the same time Ukraine is focusing on the development of its own anti-aircraft system “Freya”, which, according to Ukrainian information, can be mass-produced more cost-effectively and easily. It will still take time.

Kremlin speeches Dmitri Peskov called the coalition the “coalition of warmongers” on Monday, and Putin announced new, violent attacks.