VILLEPINTE, France (AP) — The far-right leader who wants to become prime minister after France’s upcoming parliamentary elections walked back his party’s earlier pledge Wednesday to withdraw from NATO’s strategic military command.
National Rally chairman Jordan Bardella said at the Eurosatory arms fair outside Paris in Villepinte that he “does not intend to question the commitments France has made on the international stage” if voters give his far-right party a majority that will put him in enables to lead. a new government, in what would be a tricky power-sharing arrangement with President Emmanuel Macron.
Referring to Russia’s large-scale invasion of Ukraine, Bardella said that “France should not leave NATO’s military command while we are at war, because this would significantly weaken France’s responsibility in the European theater and, of course, its credibility towards of his allies. .”
The comments backtracked on a campaign promise his party made in its manifesto for the 2022 French presidential elections. “The priority will be to leave the integrated NATO command,” the 2022 manifesto read, a move that the French military would have taken staff away from NATO’s operations planning body and weakened France’s role and influence within NATO.
This latest reversal comes as the National Rally is toning down previously announced positions in an effort to win over voters outside its traditional base ahead of the June 30 and July 7 two-round parliamentary elections – the party’s first real chance to win a to form a government.
Despite his comments about NATO, Bardella maintained that he is firmly against sending troops to Ukraine.
“I, unlike the President of the Republic, am against sending troops and French soldiers to Ukraine because I believe that, first of all, a majority of French people are against this decision,” he said. Macron said in March that sending Western troops to Ukraine should not be ruled out.
Bardella said he was in favor of sending continued French supplies of weapons, ammunition and other military equipment and support to Ukraine “to enable Ukraine to protect itself”, but that he was also wary of the risk of a direct escalation with Russia, noting that it is nuclear armed like France.
“My position has not changed. It is … to hold the front while avoiding any risk of escalation with Russia, because Russia is a nuclear power,” he said.
Bardella’s Eurosceptic anti-immigration party, and especially its former presidential candidate Marine Le Pen, is known for its close ties with Russia. Le Pen has expressed reservations about supplying additional weapons to Ukraine.
Earlier this month, Macron dissolved the lower house of the French parliament in a surprise announcement, sending voters back to the polls after his party suffered a humbling defeat to the far right in the European Parliament elections.
In France, parliamentary elections determine the composition of parliament, and not the occupant of the presidential Elysee Palace. Macron has a presidential mandate until 2027 and says he will not step down before the end of his term, even though he may have to share power with a far-right government.
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Elise Morton reported from London. Catherine Gaschka contributed to this report.
