"Actions that are unacceptable".

Florence Parly, the Minister of the Armed Forces, on Monday April 26 asked for sanctions against the military signatories of a forum published in Valeurs contemporaine on April 21.

The text, which denounces the "disintegration" of France, was greeted by the president of the National Rally Marine Le Pen and made the government and the left leap.

"As regards the soldiers who violated the duty of reserve, of course, sanctions are foreseen, and I therefore asked for those who would be among the signatories indicated, active soldiers, I asked the chief staff to apply the rules that are provided for in the statute of the military, that is to say sanctions, "she said Monday on France Info radio.

"These are actions which are unacceptable", hammered Florence Parly after having already castigated an "irresponsible platform" on Sunday.

For the retired military signatories, also "bound to a duty of reserve", sanctions are also possible, she noted.

She recalled the case of General Christian Piquemal, former boss of the Foreign Legion and also signatory of the platform, who had been struck off in 2016 from army officials for having participated in a prohibited demonstration against migrants in Calais.

Military "willing to support policies" for "the safeguard of the nation"

The text published Wednesday, April 21 by Current values, launched by the former officer Jean-Pierre Fabre-Bernadac, is signed by "twenty generals, a hundred senior officers and more than a thousand other soldiers", according to the weekly.

The latter call on President Emmanuel Macron to defend patriotism.

The text was then supported by Marine Le Pen.

The soldiers denounce there the "disintegration" which strikes according to them the fatherland and also say to be "ready to support the policies which will take into consideration the safeguard of the nation".

They warn that if "laxity continues to spread", this will make necessary "the intervention of our active comrades in a perilous mission of protecting our civilizational values ​​and safeguarding our compatriots on the national territory".

The president of the National Rally, Marine Le Pen, presidential candidate of 2022, immediately invited them to "join" her, adding to the controversy.

"The vast majority of the military, I would have said all until this weekend, defends republican values, ensures the protection of the French and the defense of France in accordance with the principles of neutrality and loyalty which is part and which is at the heart of their status ", underlined Minister Florence Parly.

Note that Marine Le Pen plays on a confusion that suits her: the irresponsible column published in Valeurs Actuelles is only signed by retired soldiers, who no longer have any function in our armies and only represent themselves.

- Florence Parly (@florence_parly) April 25, 2021

Mélenchon accuses the government of "weakness"

The text was also denounced by the left.

The leader of rebellious France Jean-Luc Mélenchon and the parliamentarians of the party asked Monday the Paris prosecutor Rémy Heitz "to initiate proceedings" against the authors and broadcasters.

In a press conference, the LFI presidential candidate Jean-Luc Mélenchon explained that he was relying on an article of the code of criminal procedure to report to the magistrate a breach of the law, in this case the "provocation to military disobedience ".

For Jean-Luc Mélenchon, the call "waiting for the republican form of the State" and "gives the army a totally distorted image" while a majority of soldiers "are attached to their duty".

The leader of the rebellious deputies demands "the punishment of the culprits", "that the prosecutor initiates proceedings against current values ​​and that the intelligence services of the armies identify the active soldiers who signed the text so that they are struck off the army .

Speaking before the announcement of the Minister of the Armed Forces, Jean-Luc Mélenchon also admonished two ministers, accusing them of "culpable weakness, criminal if it were to last": "It is time that the Keeper of the Seals (Éric Dupont- Moretti) and the Minister of the Armed Forces (Florence Parly) are waking up ".

The Minister in charge of Industry, Agnè Pannier-Runacher, also "unreservedly condemned this platform of a quarteron of generals in Charente who calls for an uprising".

"Sixty years to the day after the putsch of the generals against General de Gaulle, all this is not free (...) The mask falls, the varnish cracks, Marine Le Pen is the extreme right and it is is very exactly the same pattern as 60 years ago, "she said Monday on Franceinfo.

With AFP

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