The Baltic states, Poland and Slovakia are said to oppose the suggestion that Russia should be given security guarantees
France is facing a backlash from a group of fellow EU member states over a remark the country’s president, Emmanuel Macron, made earlier this month regarding Russia, Reuters has reported. The French head of state argued that NATO should give Moscow security guarantees if and when the parties to the ongoing Ukraine conflict sit down for peace talks. The Baltic states, Poland and Slovakia have now lodged a formal protest over that suggestion, the news agency said.
In its report on Monday, Reuters cited diplomatic sources as saying the Czech Republic, which now holds the EU Council presidency, had assisted Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, Poland and Slovakia in preparing the demarche and delivered it to the French foreign ministry. However, the report said it is not clear whether Prague itself, or any other nations besides the five mentioned above, backed the document.
According to the article, the draft demarche distributed by the Czech Republic to EU member states last week argued that Russia’s previous efforts with respect to European security architecture sought to divide and weaken Europe.
On December 3, Macron told the French TF1 TV channel: “We need to prepare what we are ready to do, how we protect our allies and member states, and how to give guarantees to Russia the day it returns to the negotiating table.”
Macron also described one of the “essential points” that NATO had to address as being Russia’s concern that the military alliance “comes right up to its doors, and the deployment of weapons that could threaten Russia.”
His suggestion quickly came under fire from Ukraine and the Baltic states.
Polish Deputy Foreign Minister Pawel Jablonski, for his part, told reporters that Russia had no right to “expect security guarantees from anyone.”
He also warned those thinking otherwise that they were making a “strategic mistake.”
French diplomats tried to downplay the comment, insisting that it was taken “out of context.”
Meanwhile, Macron himself urged European allies not to “create controversy where there is none.”
