At the National Assembly, the TNI Minister this Tuesday again responded to the comments of TNI Chief of Staff Fabien Mandon. He believes that it is “a word taken out of context”.
A few hours after Emmanuel Macron, it was the turn of the Minister of the Armed Forces to provide an update. Catherine Vautrin commented on the words of the Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces, Fabien Mandon, who said that France must be prepared to “lose its children” in the event of war.
He mentioned “words taken out of context” that “have become controversial”, before recalling that “what is really important is that in the face of this threat, we have the ability to remain clear-headed and united”.
“This is what the President of the Republic, Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces reminded all the French people this morning: there is no question of sending our young generation to Ukraine,” he stressed, in the presence of the deputies of the National Assembly.
“Remove confusing ideas”
Since Tuesday last week, the Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces’ remarks at the Congress of French Mayors have drawn many angry reactions. Fabien Mandon gave a speech that was “much more complicated than the sentences we came up with,” said Emmanuel Macron last Saturday, on the sidelines of the G20 in Johannesburg (South Africa). General Mandon is “very confident”, the President of the Republic also added.
A week later, on RTL, the French head of state spoke about the “transformation of universal national service”, in the context of the Russian threat and the ongoing war in Ukraine. However, he did not provide further information about the possibility of establishing voluntary military service in France, but is expected to speak on this soon.
But he wanted to be reassuring: “We must dispel any confusing notions that contain statements that we will send our young generation to Ukraine.”
