Former French President Nicolas Sarkozy has again prompted outrage among a large part of France’s political class after he, for the second time in one month, expressed the view that Ukraine ought to adopt a neutral stance between Russia and the West and that Kyiv’s accession into NATO and the EU would only further provoke Russia.
The controversial statements made by Sarkozy, a member of the right-of-center establishment Republicans who formerly served as the leader of its predecessor party, the Union for a Popular Movement (UMP), came on Wednesday, September 13th, during an interview with the French news outlet BMFTV.
His comments came despite the fierce backlash he faced in mid-August following an interview with the Paris-based newspaper Le Figaro, where he argued in favor of Ukraine’s neutrality and maintaining a dialogue between the West and Russia. Instead of joining the EU or NATO, he said Kyiv should seek “an international agreement providing it with extremely strong security assurances to protect it against any risk.”
This time around, the former president of the Republic—in contrast with the position held by French President Emmanuel Macron and the majority of EU leaders—cautioned against Ukraine’s accession to NATO and the EU, arguing that it “would not promote peace,” and that it could be viewed as another “provocation” by Russia.
It is in Ukraine’s best interest to pursue a policy of neutrality between the West and Russia, Sarkozy reiterated, telling BMFTV: “When you wave the muleta under the bull’s nose, you shouldn’t be surprised if he attacks.”
“There are 500,000 dead in this war. There is an aggressor, Russia, Putin. And a victim, Ukraine. But can we think about how we get out of this?” Sarkozy said.
Instead of seeking to forge increasingly close ties with Western countries, Sarkozy put forward that there are two ways in which Ukraine and its allies in the West can end the year-and-a-half-long conflict. The first, he stated, is to destroy Russia, but he made it clear that this option is unreasonable since “we are not going to wipe out the second nuclear power in the world, or the world risks descending into total war.”
For the former French president, the more realistic and feasible approach is through “diplomatic discussion.” Citing his experience as the former head of state, Sarkozy expressed confidence that peace can be achieved by way of dialogue. “They tell me Putin has changed and [that] we cannot have discussions with him,” he said, adding: “Those who say that are generally those who have never met him.”
