French President Emmanuel Macron is changing his tune toward NATO — from one of a brain-dead military organization — to a sudden call for expediting Ukraine's membership, Bloomberg reported.
Speaking in May at the GLOBSEC forum in Bratislava, Slovakia, Macron stepped back from his past critiques, calling instead for further coordination with the European Union to speed NATO's expansion up to Russia's red line.
"In December 2019, I had harsh words for NATO, underlining at the time the divisions that existed at its heart between Turkey and several other powers by speaking of 'brain death,'" Macron said at the summit on May 31. "I could say today that Vladimir Putin has revived it with the worst of electroshocks."
"The question isn't whether or not we should expand, or even when we should do it — to me, it's as quickly as possible — but how we should do it."
Several officials who spoke to Bloomberg anonymously expressed surprise at the reported conversion, while some remained skeptical.
One official dismissed the speech as empty words, while another criticized Macron's proposal to mediate peace talks with China, citing his unsuccessful attempts to prevent Putin from attacking Ukraine. A third official speculated that Macron may have acknowledged that his past efforts to engage Putin were ineffective.
Others believe Macron's recent change of heart has significant implications.
"The message is important," said Rym Momtaz, a researcher for International Institute for Strategic Studies. "We'll have to see if this message translates into a new strategic direction."
However, he said, "Macron understands the gravity of the historical moment NATO is facing and wants to play a central and constructive role. Now, he needs to give this change in his public posture some concrete signs."
Bloomberg did not report what that concrete sign was or how a potential Ukraine NATO membership will play out.
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