After Emmanuel Macron, it is the turn of François Hollande to mark his difference with the analysis of Nicolas Sarkozy concerning the invasion of Ukraine by Russia. During a seminar in front of elected socialists in Blois, the former president pointed out Thursday, August 24 “the errors” of his predecessor, pleading on the contrary for a continuation of the political and military support given to Ukraine.

In an interview with Figaro in mid-August, Nicolas Sarkozy estimated that Ukraine, attacked since February 24, 2022 by Russia, should “remain neutral” and join neither NATO nor the European Union, suggesting ” an international agreement providing extremely strong security assurances to protect it against any risk”.

Nicolas Sarkozy also judged that in Crimea, annexed in 2014 by Russia, “any backtracking is illusory”. According to him, “an indisputable referendum (…) will be necessary to ratify the current state of affairs”.

Speaking at a training seminar of the National Federation of Socialist and Republican Elected Representatives (FNESR) ahead of the PS summer days, his successor François Hollande recalled that “there were already security guarantees granted to the Ukraine at the time of [its] independence”, noting that, “when referendums are held in Russian territory, there is always the same result”.

While Nicolas Sarkozy defends “diplomacy, discussion, exchange” with the head of the Kremlin, François Hollande believes that Vladimir Putin “has made war his ideology”. “It is the war that gives it its legitimacy (…). He needs war, aggression, offensive,” so “this negotiation proposal cannot stand,” he said.

According to François Hollande, we must “mobilize public opinion” to “not get tired and not neglect” this conflict, “continue to support Ukraine” and to “supply it with armaments”.

For an autonomous socialist list for the Europeans

On Wednesday, Emmanuel Macron had already expressed his distance from Nicolas Sarkozy. “I want to say it here once again in front of you, by your side, in a very clear way: France recognizes neither the annexation by Russia of Ukrainian territories nor the results of the sham elections that have been organized,” said said the French president in a pre-recorded video message broadcast during a Crimean Platform summit. This annual event is carried by the Head of State Volodymyr Zelensky in order to recall Ukrainian sovereignty over the peninsula.

On Thursday, François Hollande also insisted that the European socialists, including the French, should be the driving force behind the Ukrainian question. A way of inviting to refuse a common list with the Nupes in the European elections of 2024.

With the approach of the latter, where “voices will rise, especially on the far right, to say ‘Do we still need to support Ukraine?’ he hopes “that European socialists can take the initiative on this issue and can hold this discourse of truth”.