“The president is using the war in Ukraine for political purposes!” » | EUROtoday
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INot way back, General Christophe Gomart met in a café at Trocadéro (Paris 16e) the previous Minister of Defense Jean-Yves Le Drian, whom he served for 5 years, significantly throughout the French army intervention in Mali. “It’s my turn to teach you now!” » joked the Breton after the current reconversion of the four-star normal into politics, as quantity three on the Republican checklist for the European elections.
A solidly claimed right-wing man with a Retailleau-Bellamy tendency, this high-ranking officer has at all times had the best esteem for Le Drian, former socialist although he could also be. “A guy who wets his shirt,” praises this Saint-Cyrian, who served a number of presidents – Nicolas Sarkozy, whom he noticed once more just lately at his request, then François Hollande – and labored within the workplaces of Defense Ministers Michèle Alliot-Marie and Hervé Morin, earlier than Le Drian. When the most effective pursuits of the homeland are at stake, partisan boundaries blur, he notes.
It is kind of totally different on his new enjoying subject now: the political ring. Overcoming divisions in Macron model, little or no for him! “The “and at the same time” doesn’t go well with me. We're entering into circles, there's no path, we don't actually know the place we're going. Yes, within the wall! »
The president is utilizing this warfare for political functions!Christophe Gomart
If he fears the “laying bare” {that a} political profession usually entails, he is sort of a fish in water within the media world. After he left the battle costume in 2017, after thirty-five years underneath the flag, the French had the chance to find him as a daily advisor on tv units. This has led to him being typically judged to be too timid about his help for Ukraine. “He’s a pro-Russian”, joke his uncommon adversaries throughout the Republicans – third place on the Bellamy checklist was not with out arousing envy…
Christophe Gomart instantly responds: “Me, a traitor to my country? Certainly not ! » “Russia is our adversary, we see it particularly in Africa in terms of influence. Morally, we can only support the Ukrainians who need money from Europe and weapons. The question is how do you end a war? » asks the one who successively ordered the 13e parachute dragoon regiment, special forces then military intelligence, elevated to the rank of commander of the Legion of Honor, openly asking the angry question.
Emmanuel Macron's hawkish posture on Ukraine, after his outbursts on the possible commitment of ground troops or a hypothetical sharing of the French nuclear umbrella at the European level, hardly suits him. He considers it wordy and denounces a solo escape, to the defiance of our partners. “I don't understand him: he is drowning in his words and there is no action! He is pushing for European defense but we are not putting in the money. It's words, words, words. It's the rooster on his pile of manure that's doing the coorico! » he snaps.
Aren't we a little “cowardly” in this matter, he asks with his frankness. Are we not content with “facade support” for the Ukrainians, to provide ourselves a transparent conscience? “We're arming Ukraine, but it's a bit: 'Here's some weapons and we're leaving.' » He makes the final assault, a few hours before Emmanuel Macron's televised intervention, this Thursday evening, June 6, at the dawn of the European vote: “The president is using this war for political purposes! »
The Versailles network
In the European Parliament, where he should be elected this Sunday – barring a disaster which would see the Bellamy list plunge below 5% – he intends to invest in the subjects of defense and diplomacy, of course, but also on the environment or family. He had been thinking about politics for a long time but he wasn't ready to take the plunge. A first opportunity presented itself after he left La Grande Muette. With the 2017 legislative elections approaching, François-Xavier Bellamy, then deputy mayor of Versailles – where General Gomart resides – suggested that he try his luck, supported by Bruno Retailleau, boss of the LR senators, a Vendéen like him at heart.
Another Versailles resident helped to inoculate him with the political virus: the writer Camille Pascal, former advisor and pen to Nicolas Sarkozy at the Élysée. But it was still too early. He chose to join the Unibail-Rodamco group, giving courses and conferences at Sciences Po for seven years. Alas, he lacks a meaning in what he undertakes. One Tuesday morning, Eric Ciotti called him to ask him to join the Bellamy list. At 63, Gomart is ripe for adventure. “It’s the commitment that matters to me, how I can continue to serve my country. It tickled me to continue working, for my life to have meaning,” he confides. “It’s the fruit of providence, I saw it as a sign from heaven. » He smiles: “Don't think I'm crazy! »
To “the union of the rights”, the grand design of the late historian and political scientist Patrick Buisson, he prefers the union of voters from all of the rights. He has already had the chance to fulfill, and doesn’t disguise it, Éric Zemmour, Sarah Knafo or Marion Maréchal. But they aren’t the leaders of Reconquest! whom he covets, nor these of the National Rally, a “whirling dervish” occasion, he accuses. These are their supporters. While his political household, of which he has been a member since 2017, is struggling to search out its area, caught between the macronie and the far proper, he needs to imagine that LR nonetheless helps “the right which can win and change the country” . “I will no longer fight with weapons in my hands,” he guarantees. I’ll struggle with political weapons. »
https://www.lepoint.fr/politique/general-gomart-lr-le-president-se-sert-de-la-guerre-en-ukraine-a-des-fins-politiques-06-06-2024-2562209_20.php