When the world's at stake,
go beyond the headlines.

In 2022, Gesine Weber wrote “A Case for French Leadership on Ukraine” in which she explored France’s potential to lead European security efforts following the Russian invasion of Ukraine. In the wake of the French government’s discussion to potentially send military trainers and recent provision of Mirage 2000-5 fighter jets to Ukraine, we invited her back to revisit her initial hypotheses on the efficacy of French leadership.Read more below.Photo: President of Ukraine In your article “A Case for French Leadership on Ukraine,” written in 2022, you argued that France is providing vital leadership in Europe in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Over the past two years, has France maintained its leadership, and how is France seeking a resolution to the conflict? It is fascinating to see how France’s role has evolved over the past two and a half years. For background: I started writing the article a few days before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, when France had just taken over the presidency of the Council for the E.U., a position that allows member states to take an agenda-setting and coordinating role among the E.U. 27. Particularly in the weeks ahead of the invasion, France brought itself into the position to play a critical role and stepped up its game in European security — for example, through the deployments of its troops to NATO’s eastern flank. However, Paris then missed the most critical moment to provide leadership among Europeans, from mid-March 2022 onward: The military support from Paris was too insignificant compared to its military and economic power, and the ongoing dialogue with Russian President Vladimir Putin very obviously (many might say, expectedly) ineffective, and there was simply no political leadership for more support to Ukraine from France — others filled this gap, particularly the United Kingdom, Eastern European states, and the