Ukraine War22 September, 20263 min read
Emmanuel Macron Urges UN Moratorium on Strikes on Civilian and Energy Targets in Ukraine
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Macron urged UN General Assembly moratorium on strikes against civilians and energy targets in Ukraine. He condemned Gaza conditions, calling for humanitarian corridors and accountability.
6 outlets told this the same way.
Macron urges moratorium
French President Emmanuel Macron used his last address before the UN General Assembly as France’s leader to call for a moratorium on strikes on civilian and energy infrastructure in the Russia-Ukraine war and to press for a double moratorium on energy and civilian targets. Macron told the UN General Assembly, “We must protect the civilian population, and this is why we’d like to express our support for a double moratorium, a moratorium on strikes on energy and civilian infrastructure,” as he framed the conflict as “a new era of barbaric acts.”
Macron also urged Moscow and Kyiv to agree to a moratorium on striking civilian and energy targets, and he called for a moratorium of attacks on commercial shipping in the Black Sea. Macron linked his Ukraine message to a broader warning about international order, saying, “The question put to us, in very simple terms, is whether we want to live in this state of nature, with a kind of return to the law of the jungle, or in a civilized international society,” while he urged countries to “stand firm.”
Gaza, West Bank, and UN
Macron used the UN podium to argue that the so-called peace in Gaza had not opened any humanitarian corridors, and he said the situation in Gaza and the occupied West Bank “embarrasses us all.” Macron asked, “What is our credibility if we remain idle in the face of Gaza?” and he said the two-state solution was necessary “for Israel’s security and its people today and tomorrow.”
Macron criticized rising settler violence in the West Bank, saying it deprives the Palestinian people of their legitimate right to exist, and he warned that Hamas has never been in the West Bank. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres told the General Assembly that “Violence, displacement, and expansion of settlements by Israel in the occupied West Bank are factors that push the road to peace off course,” adding that the two-state solution “cannot” be allowed to fade before their eyes.
Law of the jungle and AI
Macron warned that the world faces a choice between returning to what he called the “law of the jungle” and maintaining a “civilized international community governed by laws and institutions,” and he said the rhetoric of defeat could enable “abuse of power by empires.”
Macron told the General Assembly, “My message is to stand firm. Do not yield to the situation which is developing … The rhetoric of defeat that is giving way to abuse of power by empires, threatening the sovereignty of some nations,” as he urged recommitment to international laws and the UN system.
Macron also called for an “open-source” model for frontier AI independent of China and the US, and he said, “I don’t want anyone to become the vassal of one of the great powers. Rather, we must come together to build an open-source frontier model, a cutting-edge model.”
Macron’s UN speech also tied his Gaza criticism to a wider call to renew commitment to international law and the United Nations system, while he argued that protecting civilians and stopping the destruction of infrastructure cannot be separated from seeking a fair and lasting political settlement.