Why do France's presidential elections matter for Ukraine? France's next presidential election is due in spring 2027. Emmanuel Macron, the incumbent president who has been in office since 2017, will be ineligible to stand again and so France is guaranteed a new leader next year. The French Republic is currently an important partner in supporting Ukraine against Russian aggression, and the country's political system is structured in such a way that the president largely determ

Since assuming the presidency in 2017, Emmanuel Macron has energetically promoted the idea of European ‘strategic autonomy,’ a concept deeply rooted in French international relations theory. It envisages, among other things, the expansion of pan-European collective security mechanisms that would ultimately minimise the role of the United States. Despite the general difficulty of implementing this concept, Paris made substantial progress on one of its key aspects in March 2026