French Socialist presidential candidate Raphaël Glucksmann criticised U.S. President Donald Trump for easing restrictions on Russian energy exports, which the Frenchman claimed would damage Europe.
Speaking at a POLITICO event in Paris this week, the French Member of European Parliament continued his apparent strategy of casting himself as the top anti-Trump candidate in the race to replace Emmanuel Macron in the Élysée Palace next year.
In response to the agreement between President Trump and Vladimir Putin to allow more Russian diesel to flow into the global energy markets, Glucksmann said: “There is, at the head of the United States, someone who is either a useful idiot or an agent of the destruction of European strength and freedom.”
The winner of the Socialist Party primary added that he believes that the Russian war in Ukraine “targets us directly, us Europeans, and we are alone.”
“For decades,” Glucksmann said, “we have delegated our sovereignty and our security to Washington, and we are now realising what a mistake that was.”
This comes despite the United States being the largest single backer of Ukraine in its war with Russia, with Berlin’s Kiel Institute estimating that America has provided 115 billion euros ($129bn) in direct aid to Kyiv, compared to 7.9 billion euros ($8.9bn) from France. Even when including Paris’s EU contributions, estimated at around 19 billion euros ($23bn), this pales in comparison to the support provided by the United States.
Despite its rhetoric, Europe has also remained a major purchaser of Russian energy throughout the war in Ukraine, with France in particular among the top buyers of Russian liquid natural gas (LNG).
According to the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA), France is the EU’s second-largest importer of Russian LNG, buying 349 million euros ($392mn) worth of LNG from Russia in June alone. In 2024, European countries spent more money on Russian energy than they did on Ukraine aid.
Regardless, Glucksmann’s latest inflammatory comments align with his broader strategy of portraying himself as the anti-Trump candidate in the 2027 presidential race.
Following his victory in the Socialist Party primary over the weekend, the leftist MEP vowed to defeat the “far-right” and “prevent the Trump supporters, the Putin supporters, the xenophobes, and the demagogues from seizing control of the Republic.”
Glucksmann, the grandson of a Soviet Union spy, also previously grabbed headlines after demanding last year that the United States return the Statue of Liberty to France over cuts to climate change research — a pet issue of Glucksmann’s — and for supposedly “siding with tyrants”.
It remains to be seen if his strategy of attacking the United States and President Trump will pay off politically in France. Currently, Glucksmann is languishing in fourth place in the latest presidential election polling, with around 10 per cent support in the first round of voting.
In contrast, National Rally leader Marine Le Pen enjoys much broader support, with over 35 per cent of first-round voters backing her bid to become the country’s next president.
Glucksmann is also apparently seeking to replicate the success of figures like President Macron in galvanising the left and centrist voting blocs in France by invoking the spectre of a “far-right” boogeyman, casting himself as the only candidate who can defeat Le Pen and the far-left in the form of La France Insoumise (France in Rebellion) leader Jean-Luc Mélenchon, with whom he previously stood in alliance during the 2024 legislative elections.
