Gabriel Attal defends support for Ukraine as an investment for the French
On RTL, the former prime minister linked aid to kyiv to purchasing power and pleaded for the use of frozen Russian assets.
Quick Look
- Gabriel Attal affirmed on RTL that supporting Ukraine is in the immediate interest of the French to avoid an explosion in cereal prices.
- He proposes to finance this support by seizing Russian assets, an option considered risky by Euroclear.
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Why It Matters
The debate over financial support for Ukraine and the use of frozen Russian assets divides European leaders.
“Supporting Ukraine is not a humanitarian operation for fun.” At the microphone of RTL this Friday morning, Gabriel Attal sought to place the conflict raging in Ukraine as close as possible to the concerns of the French. “This is in the immediate interest of the French,” assured the Renaissance presidential candidate. At issue: the wave of migration that a defeat of kyiv would weigh on European social systems, but above all the expected rise in grain prices that would result.
“Tomorrow, if Ukraine falls, Ukraine being one of the first grain baskets in the world, […] the price of grain will explode, and therefore the French shopping cart will explode,” he insisted. Spending to support kyiv is therefore an “investment” in our future, argued the former prime minister.
“Make the Russians pay, not the Europeans”
As for the fact that the “public coffers are empty”, as argued in particular by his RN competitor, Marine Le Pen, Gabriel Attal returned to a proposition that he “has been defending for several years, without success at this stage”, namely that “it is the Russians who pay for the support to the Ukrainians, and not the Europeans”. The solution: “seize and use Russian assets” held in European bank accounts. An approach rejected by a large part of the EU countries, but whose position “we can change”, still believes the former prime minister. “If the French trust me, that’s what I will defend.”
The operation is, however, particularly risky on a legal and financial level, as recalled, at the same time on the set of BFM Business, Valérie Urbain, general director of Euroclear, the depository company which houses the majority of Russian assets, based in Brussels. “Respect for the principles of the rule of law” is an “indispensable element for our international credibility”, she insisted this Friday morning, at a time when concerns are accumulating over the French debt and when the borrowing rates of European countries are reaching records.
Open Questions
- How could the EU change its position on Russian assets?
