Macron in Prague to thaw relationship with Central Europe
French President Emmanuel Macron will be in Prague on Tuesday to meet Czech President Petr Pavel and Prime Minister Petr Fiala to reinforce a “political and strategic dialogue” over support for Ukraine.
Macron’s trip comes at the back of a high-level Ukraine support summit in Paris last week, which saw more than 20 countries agree to a Czech-led initiative to pool financial resources to purchase third-country ammunition for Ukraine.
After hiccups and delays, Ukraine’s European allies are currently hurrying to put together the financing and industrial resources to supply the Ukrainians with needed artillery.
Pressure is added as Ukraine is increasingly outgunned and outmanned on the battlefield, and the EU’s long-standing promise to ship one million EU-made shells by March has so far failed to materialise.
In mid-February, the Czech Defence Ministry and local industry announced they had identified 800,000 units of available ammunition that could be delivered to Ukraine within weeks – should funding be secured.
“We all committed to using up all available [ammunition] stocks and identifying third countries that can be mobilised [for ammunition purchases],” Macron told reporters last week in Paris, confirming they had also committed to mobilise more funding.
In practice, the ‘Czech initiative’ – which received early support from Denmark and the Netherlands and secured further pledges from Canada, Belgium, and the US – is meant to be a connecting platform between EU buyers looking to purchase third-country ammunition and non-EU producers, the Elysée said.
For months, France was reluctant to agree to the plan, instead advocating for a ‘buy European’ approach, which analysts say could not respond to Ukraine’s most urgent needs. Only last week did Paris soften its stance.
Central Europe ‘overlooked’
Such reluctance sowed tensions with Central and Eastern European partners, who complained about a gap between France’s rhetoric and actual support to the Ukraine war effort.
“There’s a bit of baggage between Macron and Central European counterparts,” Luigi Scazzieri, Senior Research Fellow at the Centre for European Reform (CER), a think tank, told Euractiv.
Macron’s stance in the run-up to the Russian invasion and early phases of the war was perceived as soft on Russia, fuelling a feeling in Central European capitals that they were being overlooked, Scazzieri argued.
In Paris last week, observers also noted that seen from Europe’s East, Macron took a ‘Baltic turn’, mentioning the growing concerns about Russia’s adverse plans for Europe.
“Macron has stopped talking down to Eastern Europeans,” an EU diplomat told Euractiv under the condition of anonymity.
The French president’s change of heart effectively looks to assuage the relationship with Prague and reinforce both countries’ “political and strategic dialogue,” according to Elysée sources.
“Czech initiatives are leading the way in EU military aid to Ukraine. And, of course, we would welcome France joining in more than it has done so far. Macron’s trip to Prague is a good opportunity to do so,” Czech MEP Alexandr Vondra, former Czech defence minister and member of Fiala’s Civic Democratic Party (ODS / ECR), told Euractiv.
The hoped-for thaw builds on a series of presidential and ministerial meetings with German and Polish counterparts, as ‘Weimar’ diplomacy gets a second wind following Polish pro-EU Donald Tusk’s appointment as prime minister, and France seems more ready to look eastwards.
The trip also comes as the European Commission unveils its European Defence Industrial Strategy, which will look to further EU-wide production capacity and encourage member states to favour joint procurements.
Macron and Pavel will meet for a working lunch before they sign a new 2024-2028 bilateral “strategic partnership”. Macron is also due to speak at a Franco-Czech nuclear forum – as France’s electric utility behemoth EDF was shortlisted to build a new reactor in Dukovany alongside South Korea’s KHNP.
This is the third time Emmanuel Macron has visited Czechia since entering office in 2017. Petr Pavel was in Paris in December 2023.
Aneta Zachová contributed reporting.
(Theo Bourgery-Gonse | Euractiv.fr)