Marine Le Pen pledges to reduce financial aid to Ukraine

Marine Le Pen, the presidential candidate for the Rassemblement National, has stated that France can no longer provide the same level of financial assistance to Ukraine due to the country's degraded public finances. While she clarified that her position does not constitute an act of hostility toward Ukraine, she proposed continuing to provide military training and equipment for defense purposes.

Le Pen advocated for a ‘great conference for peace’ to seek a diplomatic resolution to the conflict. Her comments follow previous suggestions from party vice-president Louis Aliot regarding cutting aid to Kyiv. The French foreign minister, Jean-Noël Barrot, has criticized this stance as irresponsible.

Analysis of the current economic context shows that while French financial support for Ukraine since 2022 totals over 12 billion euros, this figure is relatively small compared to France's broader fiscal challenges, including a deficit of 151.6 billion euros and a public debt representing 115.6% of GDP as of the second quarter of 2025.