Emmanuel Macron has spent much of the war in Ukraine apparently attempting to present himself as Europe’s primary resister to Russia’s military plans. Now, reports suggest the president believes the conflict started because of NATO—of which France is a founding member—in the first place.
This claim is said to have been made by American economist and public policy analyst Jeffrey Sachs at Italy’s ‘Festa del Fatto’ debate festival last week. Italian daily il Fatto Quotidiano quotes Sachs, who appeared on a discussion panel via video link, as saying:
Macron gave me the Legion of Honor [in May 2022] and privately told me what he doesn’t say in public: “The war is NATO’s fault.”
I want it to be known, because it disgusts me.
Journalist Marco Travaglio, who is director of the paper and is also involved in the festival, said he thought, “given the authoritativeness of the source, some of the media outlets that capture even the last gasp of even the most lame flat-war supporter on Ukraine would pick it up and perhaps ask their correspondent in Paris to contact the Élysée Palace. Instead, dead silence.”
Former member of Italy’s Chamber of Deputies Alessandro Di Battista also stressed that Macron should now “contradict Sachs or explain why he’s changed his mind over the past three years, coming to speak only the language of war.”
Perhaps, Di Battista added, “Macron, and the other madmen of Europe, see certain objectives in a war with Russia or in any case in a phase of growing tension.”
Sachs has also not commented on his remarks—on social media, at least—since they emerged in (small parts of) the Italian media.
