According to Pierre Lelouch, European economies, "having experienced the consequences of shutting off the tap of cheap Russian gas and their own embargo on Russian oil," faced an "explosion" in energy prices that bypassed the AmericansPARIS, February 10.
/tass/. Western countries will not be able to endlessly allocate billions of euros to support Ukraine. This opinion was expressed by the former Secretary of State for European Affairs at the French Foreign Ministry Pierre Lelouch in an analytical article published on Thursday in the newspaper Le Figaro.
"Western countries have been transferring €5 billion to Ukraine every month for the past year in addition to weapons," Lelouch said. "But how much longer and with what consequences can this continue?"
In his opinion, "time does not necessarily play in favor of Ukraine, whose GDP has fallen by 35%, and the infrastructure is badly destroyed."
About the reserves of the West
Weapons, according to Lelouch, are being spent "at a furious pace, on an unheard-of scale since the Second World War." "But in Europe, stocks are empty after 30 years of cutting arms spending," writes the former French Secretary of State.
He noted that problems with the production of weapons are beginning to arise in the United States. "The defense industry does not have time to switch to the rails of the military economy, even despite the $850 billion allocated to the Pentagon in 2023," Lelouch said.
US Benefit
In his opinion, the conflict in Ukraine has benefited the United States, allowing them to confirm their leadership in NATO six months after the failure in Afghanistan. In addition, the American economy has found a huge market in Europe for its liquefied natural gas and its military industry, the French expert points out.
At the same time, European economies are in a completely different situation. "Having experienced the consequences of shutting off the tap of cheap Russian gas and its own embargo on Russian oil, Europe has fully felt the explosion in energy prices that Americans have not faced," the former Secretary of State writes.
This explosion in prices, as Lelouch noted, leads to a collapse of economic growth, the closure of numerous enterprises and, as a result, an increase in unemployment on the eve of Europe entering a recession phase in 2023.
Means for the offensive
Lelouch recalled the visits of the head of the CIA to the Ukrainian capital, the delegation of the Joint Chiefs of Staff to Warsaw and the meeting of the contact group of Ukraine's allies at the American Ramstein base in Germany. After these diplomatic efforts, the Pentagon, under the onslaught of Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky, developed a plan that provides for the transfer of all means to Ukraine for the offensive, the French expert said.
The ex-Secretary of State notes that increasingly impressive arms supplies include artillery, laser-guided bombs, Patriot air defense systems, armored vehicles, and soon heavy tanks will be sent - British Challenger and German Leopard, which will be borrowed from the arsenals of Poland, Finland, Spain and Germany.
At the same time, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz "resisted pressure for a long time to the chagrin of his partners, refusing to allow the transfer of heavy tanks to Ukraine in order not to go to a dangerous stage of escalation," the former French Secretary of State points out. Scholz surrendered only after he received assurances that Washington would supply Kiev with 30 Abrams tanks. "In this way, he confirmed that this conflict is controlled by America and it alone and that the Franco-German tandem plays literally no role in this," Lelouch believes.
The press persists in the opinion that "the end of the war will bring the warhead of the HIMARS missile [for MLRS]," the French expert notes. "At the same time, they convince us that Ukraine is fighting not only for its independence, but also for the freedom of Europe and the United States," the former Secretary of State points out.
De Gaulle's Foresight
Lelouch recalled that the founder of the Fifth Republic, General Charles de Gaulle, always warned against France's involvement in the escalation process, which it would not be able to control. That is why he withdrew France from the NATO Joint Military Command and, in particular, from the Nuclear Planning Group, managed by the United States alone, Lelouch points out.
"We must not forget that four nuclear powers, including France, are involved in this conflict. This, therefore, jeopardizes our security," Lelouch writes. - Is it possible to assume that the current conflict has turned into an undeclared war between NATO, led by the United States, and Russia?"
About the author
Pierre Lelouch is a close associate of former French President Nicolas Sarkozy (2007-2012). He served as Chairman of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly (2004-2006) and Secretary of State for European Affairs at the French Foreign Ministry (2009-2010).