Turn Off The Tap

A senior official in French presidential contender Marine Le Pen's far-right party sparked a furore Friday with a comment that France would "turn off the tap" to Ukraine if it came to power. Le Pen is currently riding high in the polls for the first round in the tight battle to succeed President Emmanuel Macron.

"We would turn off the tap," RN vice president and mayor of Perpignan Louis Aliot told BFMTV when asked if the party would keep up funding Ukraine. "The healthcare system, the education system, the entire economy, everything is stretched to the limit. Yet money is found to keep funding weapons. That's all well and good, but who is paying for all this? You also have to know when to stop a war."

Party of capitulation

One of Le Pen's leading rivals, centre-right politician Edouard Philippe, wrote on X that "turning off the tap to Ukraine is serving Russia." "Weakening Ukraine, as Marine Le Pen wishes, is threatening the security of Europe and France. I will do everything to prevent it," he said. Europe Minister Benjamin Haddad described the RN as the "party of capitulation".

Le Pen herself entered the fray, recalling that Philippe had hosted Russian prime minister Dmitry Medvedev in Le Havre in 2019 while Macron had welcomed Putin to his summer residence the same year. She said her party was pushing for a "diplomatic resolution of this abominable war". Polls project Le Pen on course to win the first round, with a tight battle against Philippe in the second.