SFrench Foreign Minister Stéphane Séjourné has reserved his first trip abroad for Ukraine. “Ukraine is and remains France’s priority,” said the 38-year-old foreign ministry chief after a conversation with President Volodymyr Zelensky in Kiev on Saturday.
The symbolic inaugural visit to the war-torn country was probably also intended as a response to Chancellor Olaf Scholz's (SPD) criticism of French military aid. “The arms deliveries to Ukraine planned so far by the majority of EU member states are too small,” Scholz complained. “I therefore call on our allies in the European Union to also increase their efforts on behalf of Ukraine,” said the Chancellor.
During his visit, Séjourné emphasized France's “enduring support” for Ukraine. “Russia hopes that Ukraine and its supporters will tire. We won't let up. Our resolve remains undiminished,” he said. On Sunday he wanted to meet with Federal Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock (Greens) in Berlin. Until now, it had been tradition that the first foreign visit by a French Foreign Minister was to Germany. Séjourné emphasized the importance of the Weimar Triangle, which he wants to revive after the change of power in Warsaw. He announced his visit to Berlin as a step before talks in Warsaw this Monday.
Just hours after a Russian attack
In the snow-covered Ukrainian capital, the Frenchman commemorated the soldiers killed since the beginning of the war on St. Michael's Square, where the portraits of the fallen are installed. He arrived just hours after a nighttime Russian attack ended. France is now one of the driving forces behind Ukraine's EU membership. Séjourné held talks in Kiev with Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba, as well as with the country's Prime Minister Denys Chmyhal and Deputy Prime Minister for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration Olga Stefanishyna. The trip was organized by Séjourné's predecessor Catherine Colonna.
“It will not surprise you that Europe's rise to power will be my priority,” said the new minister for Europe and foreign affairs at the handover in Paris on Friday. Séjourné is not a career diplomat and previously led the liberal Renew Europe group in the EU Parliament.
He assured the conversation partners in Kiev that he would work to ensure that the previously blocked EU aid package of 50 billion euros was released. France will throw “its full weight” into the balance so that Ukraine receives the aid at the EU summit in early February. Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán was most recently at the state ceremony for the late Jacques Delors in Paris and discussed the issue with President Macron on the sidelines of a lunch at the Élysée Palace.
No concrete announcements
Séjourné made no concrete promises of military aid. Since the beginning of the war, France has provided artillery and air defense systems, which are maintained quickly and in geographical proximity. The Foreign Minister announced a “new phase of defense cooperation”. The aim is to strengthen Ukraine's ability to produce the necessary weapons in its own country. President Zelensky said they had discussed “joint production of drones, artillery, further strengthening of air defense.”
France has repeatedly criticized the figures from the Kiel Institute for the World Economy. The IfW only records commitments, but does not check the actual availability and operational capability, which requires continuous maintenance effort, it is said in Paris. In addition, important military aid in the area of reconnaissance simply cannot be measured in numbers. The National Assembly's Defense Committee presented a report in November 2023 that France's military aid to Ukraine has so far amounted to 3.2 billion euros.