Emmanuel Macron’s visit to the Czech Republic aims to highlight this “special attention” paid to Central Europe by the President of the Republic. Long reserved for the purchase of ammunition from abroad, Emmanuel Macron announced last week that his country would participate in this initiative, but without quantifying its contribution.
Emmanuel Macron is going to Prague this Tuesday March 5 where he is expected to sign with the Czech Prime Minister, Petr Fiala, a 2024-2028 action plan for a bilateral strategic partnership. He could take advantage of this trip to support a Czech initiative to buy non-European munitions for Ukraine. Indeed, the European Union had promised the Ukrainian people to deliver one million shells by March.
Low internal production capacity
But the objective was not met due to its low internal production capacity. The Czech Republic has therefore put a proposal on the table: buy ammunition outside the European Union by sourcing from countries which often refuse to commit politically behind Ukraine, but which remain interested in market opportunities. .
If this Czech initiative is already supported by the Netherlands, Denmark, Canada and Belgium, Emmanuel Macron has always been reluctant to purchase weapons outside the European Union. However, faced with the advance of the Russians on the front, the French president seems to be reviewing his position. He could announce a financial commitment today in Prague, but the Élysée refuses for the moment to give an amount and specifies that this change in doctrine would be strictly limited to Ukraine’s current urgent need.
“We are not at war against the Russian people and we refuse to enter into a logic of escalation,” Emmanuel Macron insisted on Monday in an interview with the Czech newspaper Pravo, while assuming to launch this “debate ” on “whatever it is possible to do to support Ukraine”. On the economic level, his visit also aims to support the candidacy of the French electricity group EDF which aims to win the market for a Czech civil nuclear program which could include the construction of up to four reactors.
This article is originally published on europe1.fr
