Macron promises to tighten sanctions against russia after his re-election

French Secretary of State for European Affairs Clément Beaune said that after the re-election of President Emmanuel Macron for a second term, France would continue to advocate tougher sanctions against russia, without hiding from citizens that this means some difficulties.

He said this in an interview with CNN, the EP reports.

Beaune was asked whether he thought Macron would be able to maintain support if he continued to tighten sanctions against russia for its aggression against Ukraine, because it affects people's well-being.

He acknowledged that the situation was not easy, because sanctions cannot but have such an impact.

"We need to step up sanctions, because the war is still going on. We can't stop it. At the same time, we need to protect people, especially the poorest, from rising food and energy prices. So we need to be very transparent and clear: we will protect them, but we cannot say that the situation will be easy that we will put pressure on russia and have no consequences," said the Secretary of State.

He noted that Macron had made this clear since the beginning of russia's full-scale invasion.

"Yes, sanctions will affect the lives of the French people, we will deal with it. We will try to mitigate this impact, but we cannot say that the war has no price," said Beaune.

To recap, according to the final results of the second round, Emmanuel Macron was re-elected President of France with a result of 58.54% of the vote. At the same time, his opponent Marine Le Pen lost by a smaller margin than in the last election, and voter turnout was the lowest since 1969.