(Bloomberg) -- French presidential candidate Francois Fillon said the West must engage with Russia if it is to have any hope of resolving the conflict in Syria.
During a presentation of his European policies, Fillon said that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad can't stay on if it's shown that he ordered this week's chemical attacks, but that didn't change the need to involve Russia in efforts to end the six-year civil war.
Francois Fillon on April 6.
“We must stop with this illusion that we can solve the Syrian civil war by relying on forces that have no local backing or who are just disguised jihadists,” Fillon said at a press conference in Paris on Thursday. “We must keep up a dialog with the Russians.”
Fillon doubled down on his support for Russia Thursday, saying in a morning radio interview that he'd “do anything” to lift sanctions on Russia, since they hurt French farmers, and that confronting Russia in Syria “would not be wise.”
Fillon has argued that pushing Assad out of power wasn't a priority, given the need to first confront Islamic State. But on Thursday he said that after the alleged chemical attack near Idlib “something has changed.”
During the presentation, Fillon said that Europe could no longer automatically rely on U.S. defense protection and had to raise its own defense spending and cooperation. He also said Islamic terrorism and Chinese trade practices were greater threats to Europe than Russia.
On other issues, Fillon said:
* Euro zone needs to create its own economic governance and treasury
* France needed to reform its economy to win the confidence of Germany
* EU enlargement has come to its limit and Turkey can't join
* U.K. banks can't keep their unlimited access to EU markets after Britain has left bloc
Polls suggest Fillon is in third place for the April 23 first round of the French presidential elections, out of the running to qualify for the May 7 runoff.
To contact the reporters on this story: Gregory Viscusi in Paris at gviscusi@bloomberg.net, Helene Fouquet in Paris at hfouquet1@bloomberg.net.
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Alan Crawford at acrawford6@bloomberg.net, Caroline Alexander
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