The Swiss ambassador in Paris protested on Saturday against the “unacceptable” remarks of MEP Nathalie Loiseau, who declared that the European Union should not be “a big soft Switzerland” in its management of the Ukrainian crisis.
“I agree on everything with Nathalie Loiseau, we do the same things: help Ukraine, bring the Russians to the negotiating table. I could have given this interview myself. She wanted to push the European Union to do more,” said Ambassador Roberto Balzaretti. “But the tone of his remarks is disparaging to say the least. This sentence is very embarrassing. It called for a reaction,” he added. “These comments are unacceptable.”
Back from Kiev, Ms. Loiseau (LREM) told the weekly Le Point: “Facing Moscow, Europe must not be a big soft Switzerland”, before tweeting the link to the article.
The ambassador then responded on the Embassy’s Twitter account. “Thank you for mentioning #Switzerland. For decades, we have worked for peace and security, in Europe and in the world. With discretion and determination, alongside our partners, such as France and the EU, and in multilateral forums”.
Loiseau, specialist in blunders and insults
Very bland Minister of European Affairs, Nathalie Loiseau had been propelled to the head of the LREM list in the European elections in 2019. She then led a calamitous campaign: revelations about her participation in a far-right student list, accusations of trivializing homophobia, contemptuous mention of the “Romanichels”, soothing speeches… Emmanuel Macron had to throw himself into the battle to save the furniture. The list came second, 0.9 points behind the National Rally.
But far from being scalded, Nathalie Loiseau had done it again, at European level this time, insulting her future partners from the first week, such as the German Manfred Weber (“ectoplasm”), or Guy Verhofstadt (“old man frustrated” ). Which had cost him the presidency of the Renew group in the European Parliament in Strasbourg…
Roberto Balzaretti, former Secretary of State for European Affairs, said he did not want to inflate the controversy, claiming a “balanced reaction” and claiming to be “completely ready to discuss” with Nathalie Loiseau on how to manage the crisis between Westerners and Russia. “Basically, there is no difference between French policy and Swiss policy on this subject,” he added. “The means of each other are different”.
Westerners have accused Moscow since the end of 2021 of having massed tens of thousands of soldiers on Ukraine’s borders for a potential invasion, which Russia denies, claiming only to guarantee its security.
Reference-www.leprogres.fr
