Le Pen warns that she will withdraw aid to Ukraine in six months if elected president

Marine Le Pen has warned that she will withdraw aid to Ukraine in half a year if she is elected president in May 2027. "From the moment of my election, we will maintain aid for six months so as not to put anyone in a difficult situation, but then we will stop financial aid to Ukraine because we no longer have the means to do so," declared the leader of the National Rally (RN) to the Belgian television network VRT after a meeting in Brussels with her allies from the Patriots group in the European Parliament.

His statements have had a great impact on the French presidential campaign. "Marine Le Pen is defending Russia's interests," former prime minister and centrist candidate Gabriel Attal told Franceinfo. "Supporting Ukraine is in our own defense, because the European Union is behind it."

"Marine Le Pen has never claimed to support Ukraine," Attal added. "Such a decision would be tantamount to massacring Ukrainians, but that does not worry him at all."

"The price to pay is not as high as people's lives," replied President Volodomir Zelensky in statements to the Financial Times. "That's why I think Mrs. Le Pen doesn't master certain details (...) I won't vote for her because I'm Ukrainian."

France is the third largest contributor, behind the United States and Germany, of military and humanitarian aid to Ukraine since the start of the Russian invasion in 2022. It is estimated that the amount reaches 26.2 billion euros between bilateral aid and through the European Union.

Le Pen's statements come in the context of negotiations with far-right and hard-right groups, aligned in the Patriots group, over the next EU budget. "I will defend a strict ceiling on France's net contribution to the EU of 5 billion euros," announced the leader of the National Group, specifying in passing that it would mean a decrease of 4.5 billion euros with respect to what France is currently paying."

Her willingness to withdraw aid to Ukraine and to "fight" with Brussels if she is elected have revived accusations of Euroscepticism against the National Rally, after a calculated effort in recent months to moderate her foreign policy positions, including distancing herself from Donald Trump.