Macron names first French female PM in three decades

Yahoo – AFP, Ingrid BAZINET, Stuart WILLIAMS, 16 May 2022 

Borne is seen as an able technocrat who is also able to negotiate prudently with
unions (AFP/Ludovic MARIN) (Ludovic MARIN)

President Emmanuel Macron on Monday named Labour Minister Elisabeth Borne as prime minister to lead his ambitious reform plans, the first woman to head the French government in over 30 years. 

Outgoing French Prime Minister Jean Castex earlier handed his resignation to the president, part of a widely expected reshuffle to make way for a new government following Macron's re-election in April and ahead of legislative elections in June. 

The centrist Macron will need a legislative majority to push through his domestic agenda following his re-election, with a new left-wing alliance and the far-right threatening to block his programme. 

The last woman premier, Edith Cresson, briefly headed the cabinet from May 1991 to April 1992 under president Francois Mitterrand. 

Ending weeks of speculation, the Elysee confirmed Borne's nomination in a statement and she then headed to the Matignon residence of the premier in Paris for the handover with Castex. 

"Nothing can stop the fight for the place of women in our society," she said at the handover, dedicating her appointment to "all the little girls" who should "realise their dreams". 

A former environment minister, Borne also notably urged a "quicker and stronger" reaction to the "climatic and ecological challenge". 

In a tweet addressed to "Madam Prime Minister", Macron set out their priorities. 

"Ecology, health, education, full employment, democratic revival, Europe and security. Together, with the new government, we will continue to act tirelessly for French people," he said. 

'High time' 

Borne, 61, is seen as an able technocrat who can negotiate prudently with unions, as the president embarks on a new package of social reforms that notably include a rise in the retirement age which risks sparking protests. 

A French presidential official, who asked not to be named, described Borne as a woman of "conviction, action and realisation", noting her "capacity to carry out reforms". 

"It was high time there was another woman," Cresson, who knows Borne personally, told BFMTV. 

"She is a remarkable person, with great experience in the public and private sectors... She's a very good choice because she's a remarkable person, not because she's a woman," she added. 

She expressed amazement that it had taken France -- which has never had a female head of state -- so long to have another woman prime minister. 

"France is very behind -- not the French population but the political class," added Cresson, who was the target of numerous sexist attacks during her time in office. 

'Inability to unite' 

Macron, 44, registered a solid victory in April 24 presidential polls against far-right leader Marine Le Pen, winning by 59 to 41 percent. 

Le Pen and defeated hard-left leader Jean-Luc Melenchon are both eyeing comebacks in the parliamentary elections on June 12 and 19 that would give them the ability to thwart Macron. 

Melenchon recently persuaded the Socialist, Communist and Greens parties to enter an alliance under his leadership that unites the left around a common platform for the first time in decades. 

Macron's rivals were less complimentary about Borne, whose appointment Le Pen said showed the president's "inability to unite and his desire to pursue his policy of contempt". 

Melenchon scoffed at the idea that Borne had come from the left, describing her as "among the harshest figures of social abuse" in France's ruling elite. 

Castex had intended to resign immediately after the presidential election in line with French tradition, but was persuaded by Macron to stay on while he lined up a replacement. 

The bespectacled 56-year-old from rural southwest France has a no-frills style and a strong regional accent which has endeared him to many French people. 

He will mostly be remembered for his management of the latter stages of the Covid-19 pandemic but also windmill arm gestures and a habit of forgetting where he had placed his glasses. 

"For nearly two years, he worked with passion and commitment in the service of France," said Macron in a farewell tweet to Castex, who has made clear he has no plans for higher office.

'Massive' child sex abuse in French Catholic Church, inquiry finds

Yahoo - AFP, Karine PERRET and Joseph SCHMID, October 5, 2021 

The French Catholic Church expressed "shame and horror" over the abuse
and asked for "forgiveness" (AFP/JEFF PACHOUD)

French Catholic clergy sexually abused around 216,000 minors spanning seven decades since 1950, a "massive phenomenon" that was covered up by a "veil of silence," an independent commission said Tuesday. 

The commission's two-and-a-half-year inquiry and 2,500-page report prompted outrage as the Catholic Church in France and around the world faces a growing number of abuse claims and prosecutions. 

Pope Francis expressed "great pain" over the "appalling" findings, a Vatican spokesman said, adding: "His thoughts turn first to the victims, with great sorrow for their wounds and gratitude for their courage in speaking out." 

The report found that the "vast majority" of victims were pre-adolescent boys from a variety of social backgrounds. Their abusers were mainly priests, bishops, deacons and monks. 

When claims against lay members of the Church, such as teachers at Catholic schools are included, the number of child abuse victims climbs to 330,000 since 1950, the report found. 

"These figures are more than worrying, they are damning and in no way can remain without a response," commission chief Jean-Marc Sauve told a press conference that unveiled the nearly 2,500-page report. 

"Until the early 2000s, the Catholic Church showed a profound and even cruel indifference towards the victims." 

Archbishop Eric de Moulins-Beaufort, president of the Bishops' Conference of France (CEF), which co-requested the report, expressed his "shame and horror" at the findings. 

"My wish today is to ask forgiveness from each of you," he told the news conference. 

Jean-Marc Sauvre was one of France's highest-ranking civil servants
(AFP/THOMAS COEX)

'Deviant system' 

Sauve denounced the "systemic character" of efforts to shield clergy from sex abuse claims and urged the Church to pay reparations even though most cases are well beyond the statute of limitations for prosecution. 

His commission detailed 45 recommendations to avoid further abuse, not least a requirement that priests inform prosecutors of any child abuse during the sacrament of confession -- under Catholic doctrine priests are usually bound to absolute secrecy. 

"We expect clear and concrete responses by the Church," a collective of six victims' associations said. 

The report, at nearly 2,500 pages, found that the "vast majority" of victims were pre-adolescent boys from a variety of social backgrounds. 

"The Catholic Church is, after the circle of family and friends, the environment that has the highest prevalence of sexual violence," the report said. 

Sauve had already told AFP on Sunday that a "minimum estimate" of 2,900 to 3,200 clergy members had sexually abused children in the French Church since 1950. 

Yet only a handful of cases prompted disciplinary action under canonical law, let alone criminal prosecution. 

The commission began its work after Pope Francis vowed to address abuse by priests in May 2019, ordering people aware of cases to report them to Church officials. 

In France in particular, the case of Philippe Barbarin, an archbishop initially convicted of not telling police of a priest's abuse of boy scouts, drew outrage after he was acquitted in January 2020. 

Francois Devaux, head of a victims' association, condemned a "deviant system" and called for a new "Vatican III" council to chart a way forward. 

Sexual abuse in the French Catholic Chucrh (AFP/Bertille LAGORCE)

'Dumbfounded' 

"You have finally given an institutional recognition to victims of all the Church's responsibilities, something that bishops and the pope have not yet been prepared to do," Devaux said at the news conference. 

"I'm dumbfounded," said Yolande Ormancey, a 63-year-old parishioner praying Tuesday at the Fourviere basilica in Lyon, southeast France. 

"I expect these criminals to be punished, and support offered to victims whose lives have been ruined," she said. 

The victim estimates were largely based on a representative study carried out by France's INSERM health and medical research institute. 

Sauve and his team of 21 specialists, all unaffiliated with the Church, also interviewed hundreds of people who came forward to tell their stories. 

"If the veil of silence covering the acts committed has finally been torn away... we owe it to the courage of these victims," he wrote. 

The commission also had access to police files and Church archives, citing only two cases of refusals by Church institutions to turn over requested documents. 

Overall, it found that 2.5 percent of French clergy since 1950 had sexually abused minors, a ratio below the 4.4 to seven percent uncovered by similar inquiries in other countries. 

While that would imply an unusually high number of victims per assailant, "a sexual predator can in fact have a high number of victims, especially those who attack boys," the report found.

At home, Merkel wins backing for EU aid U-turn

RTL – AFP,  26 May 2020

La chancelière allemande Angela Merkel pendant une conférence de presse à
Berlin, le 20 mai 2020 / AFP/File

Chancellor Angela Merkel shattered a long-standing German taboo last week when she unexpectedly unveiled a plan to fund the EU's coronavirus recovery through shared debt.

It was a stunning U-turn after years of German opposition to joint borrowing, but the risky political gamble appears to be paying off.

The veteran leader, set to end her political career next year, has already won the backing of key members of her conservative CDU party for the proposed 500-billion-euro ($544 billion) EU recovery fund, aimed at helping the nations hardest hit by the pandemic.

Surveys show that a majority of Germans are also on board.

"I have no doubt that there is broad support for this proposal in the German national parliament," Bundestag president and CDU heavyweight Wolfgang Schaeuble said in an interview with AFP.

The recovery plan, thrashed out with French President Emmanuel Macron, may ultimately never win over sceptical EU member states such as Austria and the Netherlands.

But observers say tectonic plates have started shifting in Germany and the debate about what it means to show European solidarity will never be the same again.

'Necessary'

The Merkel-Macron plan is "a necessary and important proposal during this time", said Schaeuble, who is also a former finance minister and remains highly influential in Germany.

"It calls on Europe to use this crisis to become stronger and more dynamic," he said.

Like Merkel, Schaeuble has long resisted the idea of EU joint borrowing over fears that fiscally disciplined nations -- such as Germany -- would be forced to pay for the excesses of their less frugal partners -- such as Italy or Greece.

During his eight years as Germany's powerful paymaster, Schaeuble was admired at home for his strict balanced budget policies.

But he became a hate figure abroad during the eurozone debt crisis for his insistence on tough austerity for debt-mired nations like Greece.

The coronavirus pandemic however requires a different response, he argued.

In their landmark gambit, Merkel and Macron suggested that the European Commission, the EU's executive arm, borrow on the markets to raise the recovery funds.

The money would be handed out as grants to help the most stricken among the EU's 27 members bounce back, like Italy and Spain.

The 500 billion euros would be paid back through successive EU budgets, with Germany as Europe's top economy funding around 27 percent of it.

Top brass from Merkel's CDU endorsed the Franco-German plan at a meeting of the party's executive committee on Monday.

"Germany will only do well if Europe does well," Merkel told participants, according to a source at the talks.

EU presidency

Merkel still faces some obstacles. The CDU's most conservative faction, known as the Values Union, has slammed the proposal.

The head of the faction, Alexander Mitsch, has urged German and European lawmakers to resist the planned fund, which he described as "another step" towards turning the European Union into a "debt union and a centralised state".

Similar criticism has also come from Germany's far-right AfD, the largest opposition party in the Bundestag, and from the smaller pro-business FDP party.

But 51 percent of Germans support the Merkel-Macron effort, according to a survey by the Civey institute for Der Spiegel weekly. Around 34 percent of respondents opposed it.

It is an early victory for Merkel who is riding high in the polls over her coolheaded, science-based handling of the pandemic so far, which has helped keep Germany's COVID-19 deaths lower than in neighbouring nations.

With little left to lose as she readies to bow out at the next general election, slated for late 2021, observers say Merkel is staking much of her political capital on the recovery fund.

"She was eager to reaffirm Germany's European commitment after pretty harsh criticism from Italy and Spain" over a perceived lack of solidarity in the coronavirus crisis, a source close to Macron told AFP.

"She is also keeping in mind Germany's EU presidency from July. She wants to leave her mark."

Related Article:

‘Frugal four’ including the Netherlands, present EU recovery plan

‘Frugal four’, including the Netherlands, present EU recovery plan

DutchNews, May 24, 2020

Photo: DutchNews.nl

The Netherlands, Austria, Denmark and Sweden have submitted their own Covid-19 recovery plan to the European Commission as debate over the EU’s strategy for offsetting the impact of coronavirus continues. 

The Netherlands and its partners, known as the ‘frugal four’, say they support the establishment of a one-off emergency fund but do not back debt sharing or a ‘significant’ increase in the EU’s next seven-year budget. 

The Netherlands has been at the forefront of a campaign not to ‘give gifts’ to southern European countries and this proposal is based on a ‘modernised’ EU budget that will make sure countries are ‘better prepared for the next crisis,’ Politico reported. 

The fund would be temporary and one-off and should not lead to ‘debt mutualisation’ Politico quoted the four countries’ position paper as saying. 

The ‘loans for loans’ approach is in line with the fundamental principles of the EU, the Financial Times said, and recipients of loans would have to display a ‘strong commitment to reforms’. 

Last Monday, Germany and France submitted their joint deal involving a €500bn recovery fund offering grants rather than loans. The move was welcomed by southern EU countries and praised as an important breakthrough. 

The Franco-German plan envisages borrowing from the market in the name of the EU and says that countries benefiting would not have to repay the cash. 

‘We are convinced that it is not only fair but also necessary to make the funds available now… that we will repay gradually through several future European budgets,’ German chancellor Angela Merkel said at a press conference. 

Solidarity 

The seriousness of the crisis meant ‘solidarity’ must be the order of the day, Merkel said. 

The plan was welcomed by EU chief Ursuala von der Leyen as constructive and as acknowledging the ‘scope and size’ of the challenges the EU faces. 

The European Commission is expected to unveil its own proposals for funding the recovery on Wednesday. Insiders suggest it is a combination of grants and loans. 

All 27 member states will have to agree to any recovery plan before it can be implemented. SER Last Thursday, Dutch government policy advisory group 

SER 

said the Netherlands must show solidarity with the EU member countries which have been hardest hit by the coronavirus crisis, in its own interest. 

Instead of a strict system of loans subject to conditions and reforms, the government should show more leniency and aim for ‘a responsible form of risk sharing’, SER’s Coronacrisis think-tank said. 

The think-tank, which includes unions, employers, advisory bodies CPB and SCP and Dutch bank DNB and was set up in March, ‘deviates from the government line’, chairwoman Mariëtte Hamer told the FD. 

It is in the Dutch interest to makes sure the southern European countries in particular do not drown in debt and find their way out of the crisis as soon as possible, Hamer said.

Related Article:

Dutch government must show more solidarity with hard-hit EU countries: SER

French and German ambassadors urge Dutch to support the EU

DutchNews, April 16, 2020 

Photo: Depositphotos.com

The Algemeen Dagblad on Thursday published an open letter from the French and German ambassadors to the Netherlands, calling on the Dutch to help preserve the unity of the European Union. 

In the letter, French ambassador Luis Vassy and German ambassador Dirk Brengelmann slate attempts to make European governments’ reactions to the coronavirus crisis look ‘weak and disorganised’, which they say is an attack on democratic values. 

The letter, headed ‘Dear Nederlanders, dear friends’, warned of ‘eurosceptics’ in the Netherlands and elsewhere in Europe who are taking advantage of the ‘worst crisis since the World War II’ to point to the EU’s ‘shortcomings’. 

The letter does not identify who these eurosceptics are, but some political parties in the Netherlands, such as PVV and Forum voor Democratie have long campaigned for the Netherlands to quit the European Union. 

Instead of criticising the EU, the ambassadors ask their ‘dear Dutch friends’ to consider the importance of shared values, particularly the democratic values of transparency, responsibility and debate. 

Science 

The ambassadors point out that in Europe ‘whistleblowers are not silenced and scientists are listened to’. This reaction to the crisis, the letter went on to say, is ‘now being painted by propagandists as weak and disorganised in an attempt to create discord and weaken people’s faith in our democratic system’. 

The ambassadors also stressed the need for solidarity, citing the €37bn funding package which was finally hammered out between the member states last week. 

However, Dutch finance minister Wopke Hoekstra and prime minister Mark Rutte were both heavily criticised for showing a lack of solidarity to fellow EU countries who are struggling to cope with the coronavirus pandemic. 

Post coronavirus 

The Netherlands will also have an important role to play in a post coronavirus Europe, the ambassadors said, pointing out that a number of things will have to change in case Europe is faced with a similar challenge in the future. 

The production of strategic goods, such as medical equipment, will have to take place in Europe while the Dutch will also have to contribute to issues related to climate, the digital economy and the management of big data. These, they said, are ‘fields in which none of the  European countries have the means to become the dominate player’. 

According to the AD the message is part of a trend for ambassadors to make their opinions known to the public. DutchNews.nl has asked the French embassy for a comment.

Macron says 'not sure' EU-UK trade deal possible before end of 2020

Yahoo - AFP, February 23, 2020

French President Emmanuel Macron said that trade negotiations between the
European Union and Britain will "become more tense" (AFP Photo/Ludovic Marin)

Paris (AFP) - French President Emmanuel Macron on Saturday said he was "not sure" it would be possible for the European Union and Britain to reach a trade deal by the end of the year.

Britain and the EU are about to embark on negotiations aiming to hammer out a trade agreement by the time the post-Brexit transition period shuts at the end of December.

But France has made clear it thinks the negotiations will be particularly difficult, especially in such a tight timeframe.

"I am not sure that an agreement will be reached between now and the end of the year," Macron said at a meeting with fishermen, who are concerned for their livelihoods after Brexit, at an agricultrual trade event in Paris.

"Anyway, it is going to become more tense because (the British) are very hard," he said, adding that fishing rights would be a key point of contention.

Britain formally ended its 47-year membership of the EU on January 31, nearly four years after a majority voted to leave the bloc in a 2016 referendum.

France and several other countries want to be able to keep fishing in British waters, while London wants full autonomy and limited access for European fishermen.

The EU's chief negotiator Michel Barnier has said the EU's top priorities are fishing, security and maintaining fair trading conditions for European companies.

He has also firmly rejected a British suggestion that City of London companies could be given broad, permanent access to EU markets without conditions.

Overall, French fishing boats generate 30 percent of their revenue from catches in British maritime territories, particularly rich in fish stocks.

French officials say that the UK exports the bulk of its catch to Europe, indicating that British fishermen have plenty to lose if the two sides fail to reach a deal.

Underage rape probe opened into French author Matzneff

Yahoo – AFP, Eleonore DERMY, January 3, 2020

In the book "Consent", Springora describes how she was seduced at the age
of 14 by Matzneff (AFP Photo/Martin BUREAU)

Paris (AFP) - Paris prosecutors on Friday opened a rape investigation into the author Gabriel Matzneff, a day after the publication of a book detailing his sexual relationship with a girl of 14 over three decades ago.

The case has attracted huge interest in France, which is only now beginning to scrutinise attitudes after decades of what is seen by some as an overly permissive attitude towards sexual exploitation of women and paedophilia.

The probe was launched after an examination of the book "Consent", published on Thursday, where author Vanessa Springora describes a sexual relationship she had with Matzneff in the mid-1980s when he was 36 years her senior, Paris prosecutor Remy Heitz said in a statement.

Heitz said the inquiry would focus on "rapes committed against a minor" aged under 15.

In "Consent", Springora, 47, now a leading publisher, describes how she was seduced at the age of 14 by Matzneff and how this left lasting scars.

Matzneff, an essay writer long admired by some in French literary circles, never made any secret of his preference for sex with adolescent girls and boys.

In the mid-1970s, he published a notorious essay called "Les Moins de Seize Ans" ("Those Less than 16").

'All other victims'

Springora had indicated she did not intend to bring a criminal complaint against Matzneff. But the Paris prosecutors used their power to open an investigation of their own accord.

Heitz said that beyond the events described by Springora, the investigation "will work to identify all other eventual victims who could have been subjected to crimes of the same nature in France or abroad".

In France it is against the law to have a sexual relationship with anyone under the age of 15.

Gabriel Matzneff has denounced Springora's book, saying it attempts to 

portray him as "a pervert, a manipulator and a predator." (AFP Photo/

Jacques DEMARTHON)

It is possible that investigations into Springora's evidence could be restricted by the statute of limitations, which in 2018 was extended to 30 from 20 years for this kind of crime but is not retroactive.

The book comes in the age of #MeToo as France wrestles with a series of accusations by women who say they were exploited by men who often held positions of power.

In one of the most prominent recent cases, French actress Adele Haenel accused film director Christophe Ruggia of constantly harassing her from the age of 12 to 15. She has since filed a complaint against him.

And the controversy has intensified around French-Polish film director Roman Polanski, a fugitive from US justice since 1978 when he admitted to statutory rape of a 13 year-old, after he brought out his new film "An Officer and a Spy".

'Not what we experienced'

Matzneff has denied any wrongdoing and in a lengthy statement sent to the L'Express magazine claimed that there had been an "exceptional love" between him and Springora, and that he did not "deserve the ugly portrait" that had been painted of him.

"No, this is not me, this is not what we experienced together and you know it," said the writer, now 83, denouncing a book that he says tries to portray him as "a pervert, a manipulator and a predator".

In 2013, Matzneff was awarded the Renaudot prize for his essays on international affairs and philosophy, an award one member of the jury has now conceded was a mistake.

"It is clear that he would not have got the prize for one of his intimate journals," jury member Frederic Beigbeder told the Parisien daily. "This prize was a blunder."

In the book Springora writes: "Aged 14, you are not supposed to have a 50-year-old man waiting for you when you leave school, you are not supposed to live in a hotel with him, or find yourself in his bed with his penis in your mouth when you should be having a snack."

Ahead of the book's publication, French ministers rounded on Matzneff, with Culture Minister Franck Riester saying "having a literary aura is not a guarantee of impunity."

Thousands in Brussels protest violence against women

Yahoo – AFP, 24 November 2019

Protesters placed red shoes on the ground as a symbol of the victims of
violence against women

Around 10,000 people took part in a protest march in Brussels on Sunday calling for an end to violence against women, police said, a day after similar demonstrations in France and Italy.

The protesters in the Belgian capital paid homage to women killed by partners or ex-partners, then marched to the Palace of Justice where they placed pairs of red shoes as a symbol of femicide victims.

"Belgium is a very complex country with many levels of power; federal, regional and communal and all these levels of powers do little things to tackle violence against women. But the main thing we are demanding is a national plan," said Celine Caudron, one of the organisers of the protest.

"It is important to punish the perpetrators but what we want most is that the violence doesn't happen in the first place."

The marchers held up placards bearing messages such as "That's enough" and "Not one more life".

Also prominent were the names of the 22 women killed by men in Belgium this year.

Outside the law courts building the demonstrators set off alarms and made noise as a "protest against the silence" which surrounds the deaths of battered women.

According to Mirabal, a Belgium umbrella group of organisation opposing violence against women, there have been 98 femicides in the country since 2017, a figure "which, in proportion to the population, is well above the average for European nations".

Tens of thousands marched in France and Italy on Saturday calling for an end to violence against women.

The marches came ahead of the UN-recognised International day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women on Monday.

French bishops approve payouts for sex abuse victims

Yahoo – AFP, Karine Perret, November 9, 2019

French bishops said the size of the compensation scheme for abuse victims will
be unveiled following their next meeting in April (AFP Photo/PASCAL PAVANI)

Lourdes (France) (AFP) - French bishops on Saturday approved a programme of payouts to victims of sex abuse by priests -- but survivors have already objected that the Church has not gone far enough in admitting responsibility.

Voting at the bi-annual Conference of French Bishops (CEF) in the southern city of Lourdes, a large majority of the 120 bishops approved the payments to those who had suffered abuse within the Church.

The size of the payouts will be made will be determined at a meeting in April, conference chairman Eric de Moulins-Beaufort, the archbishop of Reims, told reporters.

But any money paid was designed neither as compensation that would be determined by a court "or by canonical justice", nor as reparation.

But some victims said this did not go far enough.

"The word 'responsibility' of the Church does not appear, that really bothers me," said Jean-Luc Souveton, a priest and a member of the working group on the issue, who was himself abused by a priest when a child.

Michel, another priest who was also a victim but who did not want to give his full name, agreed with Souveton that the statement was not enough.

'Negligence, indifference'

But De Moulins-Beaufort, who is Archbishop of Reims, did acknowledge the "silence, negligence, indifference, an absence of reaction, bad decisions or dysfunctionality at the heart of the Church".

An independent commission set up by the Church to investigate the scandal started work in June.

Committee chairman Jean-Marc Sauve told AFP in September that they had received about 2,000 messages in its first three months.

Most of those who had come forward were older then 50, and two-thirds were men, he added. The committee is looking at allegations dating as far back as the 1950s.

On Saturday, another victim of abuse, Olivier Savignac, objected that the bishops had not waited for the findings of the independent commission.

"The bishops are getting around the recommendations of the ... commission so they don't have to face up to what is going to be a tsunami" of complaints, he said.

In May, Pope Francis passed a landmark new measure obliging anyone in the Church who knew about sex abuse to report it to their superiors.

A few months earlier, a French cardinal, Philippe Barbarin, received a six-month suspended jail sentence for failing to report sex abuse by a priest under his authority. His case is up for appeal later this month.

In August, the Vatican's former number three, Australian Cardinal George Pell, lost his appeal against his conviction for sexually assaulting two 13-year-old choirboys at a Melbourne cathedral in the 1990s.

Ukraine foes start troop withdrawal in east

Yahoo – AFP, Ania TSOUKANOVA, Dmytro GORSHKOV, October 29, 2019

Ukrainian nationalists have staged a series of protests against President Volodymyr
Zelensky's peace process with Moscow-backed separatists (AFP Photo/GENYA SAVILOV)

Kiev (AFP) - The Ukrainian army and Moscow-backed separatists said Tuesday they had begun to withdraw their troops from a key area in the war-torn east ahead of a high-stakes summit with Russia.

The long-awaited pullback is a precondition for the first face-to-face talks between Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky, to be mediated by the leaders of France and Germany.

"The process of troop withdrawal began by both sides... in the area of Zolote-4" in the Lugansk region, Ukraine's army said on Facebook.

Monitors from the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe confirmed the move.

"Today the sides have just resumed the withdrawal of troops and arms in Zolote," Martin Sajdik, an OSCE special representative, told journalists.

"I think that we did a lot to bring about the Normandy (summit)," Zelensky told the Interfax-Ukraine news agency, referring to the name given to the internationally-mediated talks.

The rival forces also need to withdraw troops from the village of Petrivske in the Donetsk region for the summit to go ahead.

Map of Ukraine showing regions controlled by pro-Russian separatists and 

Crimea which was annexed by Russia (AFP Photo/Sébastien CASTERAN)

'Surrender'

Since coming to power in May, comedian-turned-president Zelensky has sought to revive a peace process to end a five-year-old separatist conflict in eastern Ukraine that has claimed some 13,000 lives.

But those efforts have stalled as Kiev's forces and the separatists have repeatedly failed to pull back troops from the frontline because of exchanges of gunfire.

Zelensky's peace plan including the troop pullback has been strongly criticised by many in Kiev, especially war veterans and nationalists.

Some 300 Ukrainians heeded the calls of veterans and nationalists to protest outside the presidential office against the withdrawal of troops, chanting: "No surrender!".

The same calls have been made over the past few weeks, as thousands of Ukrainians including Zelensky's predecessor Petro Poroshenko have protested in the capital Kiev and other cities.

Various nationalist organisations even deployed their own troops to Zolote in an effort to prevent a retreat of Ukrainian forces.

Last week the 41-year-old Ukrainian president was forced to personally travel to Zolote in an effort to persuade his nationalist critics not to stand in the way of the peace process.

Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky has agreed to withdraw troops in key 

parts of the war-torn east of the country (AFP Photo/TIMOTHY A. CLARY)

"We have to look for ways and work to end the war," Zelensky said Saturday during his trip to the village.

"There will be no surrender in any case... I am sure we will succeed and Ukraine will be united again."

Special status

Putin's aide Vladislav Surkov expressed satisfaction about the move.

"If everything works out in Zolote, similar procedures in Petrivske should follow immediately," he told Russia's TASS news agency.

Political opponents were quick to criticise Zelensky on Tuesday.

Ivanna Klympush-Tsintsadze, a lawmaker from Poroshenko's party, called the troop withdrawal a "capitulation on the Kremlin's conditions".

Another opposition party Golos condemned Zelensky for breaking his own promise to withdraw troops only after fighting stops for seven days, while there was shooting across the frontline as recently as the weekend.

13,000 people have died since the conflict in eastern Ukraine broke out in 2014 

(AFP Photo/Sergei SUPINSKY)

"The withdrawal of troops without fulfilling the conditions of the 7-day silence regime is unacceptable," the party said in a statement.

"Such actions of the president and his team are a mistake," it said.

In the run-up to the planned summit, Ukrainian, Russian and separatist negotiators also agreed on a roadmap that envisages a special status for the separatist territories if they conduct free and fair elections under the Ukrainian constitution.

Critics say the proposal favours Russia but Zelensky has pledged not to betray Ukraine's interests.

Ties between Ukraine and Russia were shredded after a bloody uprising ousted a Kremlin-backed regime in 2014.

Moscow went on to annex Crimea and support insurgents in eastern Ukraine.