A few days before an important summit, Europe is still very polarized on many subjects, notably on budgetary support for Ukraine of 50 billion euros for the next four years, and the opening of its negotiations on membership. Our guest Manon Aubry, French MEP and co-president of the Left group in the European Parliament, says she is in favor of all aid, but not enlargement.
Manon Aubry calls for a ceasefire in the war between Israel and Hamas since October 7, and rejects any accusation of anti-Semitism from her party, LFI, for which she will be head of the list during the European elections in June 2024. His plan for an alliance with the other left-wing parties has failed.
“The EU must take a diplomatic initiative”
“The duty of the European Union is to continue financial, logistical, humanitarian and military support to Ukraine”, asserts Manon Aubry. Within his group in Parliament, some of whose parties, such as Podemos in Spain or Syriza in Greece, vote against military support: “It is normal that there are debates because from the moment you give no longer only weapons of defense, as was the case at the start of the conflict, but weapons of attack, you are co-belligerent in a conflict. (…) And our political camp has always been the camp of peace. This is why since the start of the conflict, we have been calling on the EU to take a diplomatic initiative (…) with the prerequisite that Vladimir Putin withdraws from Ukraine.” Ukraine’s membership in the club of 27 is another question for her: “Who seriously thinks that we can bring a country at war into the European Union? This is absolutely not realistic”. “Ukrainians need financial support, military support, and you don’t need to be in the European Union to obtain it,” she adds.
Viktor Orban’s “blackmail”
Manon Aubry dissociates herself from the “blackmail” exercised by Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, who threatens to block all decisions relating to Ukraine at the next summit, because he is ambiguous about Russia and wants to recover European funds frozen because of its autocratic excesses. Manon Aubry sees this as proof of the “failures of the previous enlargement. (…) Because when the European Union expanded to ten additional states, at no time was the question of the conditions for harmonization in social, fiscal, ecological and democratic matters raised.”
She denounces the social dumping that would have followed. “In France, for example, more than half of relocations take place within the European Union itself, not outside. And I say it very clearly today, the minimum wage in Ukraine is 140 € and I am not ready for us to cause a social massacre both in the west of the European Union with massive relocation , but also a social massacre in these candidate countries (…) And that does not mean that we cannot collaborate with them, that we cannot help them”.
Israel-Hamas war: “EU must call for immediate ceasefire”
For Manon Aubry, “in this very tense geopolitical context, the European Union must have a singular, unique, non-aligned voice: neither Russia, nor China, nor the United States” and particularly in the context of the conflict which pits Israel against Hamas: “the European Union must call for an immediate ceasefire. (…) It should have impact and influence (…) but it is a completely inaudible voice, made of contradictions,” she regrets.
On October 8, Hungarian European Commissioner Oliver Varhelyi threatened to suspend EU humanitarian aid to Gaza. “It hasn’t been done,” she agrees. Before continuing: “But how can a commissioner say that? The President of Parliament and the President of the European Commission spoke of unconditional support for the far-right government of Benjamin Netanyahu. What is concretely the position of the European Union: this support for acts of war, for war crimes, for crimes against humanity, or the more measured position of Josep Borrell, who speaks to him about the catastrophic humanitarian situation and moves forward little by little on a ceasefire? The United Nations today are talking about the risk of genocide, ethnic cleansing. It’s a humanitarian apocalypse.”
See alsoThe EU, a spectator of the Hamas-Israel conflict? The 27 shared on aid to the Palestinians
LFI rejects accusations of anti-Semitism
And France in all this? “Whatever the political color, French diplomacy has always had a singular voice on the international scene, which was to seek this winding path to peace between Israel and Palestine. France has always defended a two-state solution on the basis borders of 1967”, explains Manon Aubry. Position that his party, La France Insoumise, claims to support. What about the ambiguities in Jean-Luc Mélenchon’s speeches and actions on anti-Semitism? Manon Aubry refutes: “When does Jean-Luc Mélenchon have an anti-Semitic position? (…) we have condemned from the first hour, the first second, the barbaric attacks of Hamas and we say very clearly that Israel’s right to defense is not the right to revenge (…) From the beginning, we have condemned all anti-Semitic acts in our country (…) and we also say that we do not protect people of the Jewish faith by pointing the finger at people of the Muslim faith, as does ‘far right”.
On November 12, the presidents of the National Assembly and the Senate called for a march against anti-Semitism. France Insoumise did not participate, unlike other French parties, including the National Rally. “We don’t march against anti-Semitism with anti-Semites,” explains Manon Aubry. “The National Rally was created by former Waffen SS, who are anti-Semites, Nazis. They are the heirs of the Nazis,” according to her.
See alsoMarch against anti-Semitism: “The day the RN became acceptable to Jews”
European elections: “My goal is to exceed 10%”
As in 2019, Manon Aubry is expected to be head of the list of La France Insoumise for the 2024 European elections. In the latest polls, her party, at 8%, gains two points compared to the last election, but remains far behind the National Rally, credited with 28% of voting intentions, and which is ahead of the presidential Renaissance party at 19%. “My goal is to exceed 10% and thus be at the head of the left,” she expresses. Because the MEP dreamed of a joint list with socialists and French Greens under the banner New Ecological and Social People’s Union (Nupes) “to be able to take the lead in this European election in front of the far right (…) who tries to put on a clean veneer (…) while just a few days ago, Jordan Bardella was in Florence, with all the fascists in the European far-right sphere”.
See alsoRise of the far right in Europe: the EU soon to be blocked?
The Ecologists Party announced an autonomous list led by Marie Toussaint. For his part, former French socialist president François Hollande showed his support for a list led by Raphaël Glucksmann. Manon Aubry regrets this: “It’s up to them to say how they disagree today with this Nupes program. He is not dead and I will support him: in the face of austerity, we must call on the richest of our countries to contribute, at a time when the cost of living is exploding for all Europeans, in the face of free exchange, denounce the major Treaties with Mercosur and New Zealand, we need more protectionism and protect our industries and in the face of the whole market, we must protect common goods from their liberalization.” The campaign is launched!
Program prepared by Perrine Desplats, Sophie Samaille and Isabelle Romero
