Paris (AFP)
Xavier Bertrand, ex-LR and presidential candidate, called on Sunday for "an extraordinary NATO summit" after the termination of a mega-contract for French submarines by Australia, and evoked a withdrawal from the France of the alliance command.
At this summit, we must "ask the Americans this question of confidence: do you respect us, where is the alliance going?" He told the RTL / LCI / Le Figaro Grand Jury.
"The question is to know if, for the Americans, we also count, or if we are in the second division", explained the president of Hauts-de-France, and "if the answer does not satisfy us, I wish to put on the table the question of the participation of France in the integrated command of NATO ".
Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian ruled on Saturday that the crisis would weigh heavily on the definition of NATO's new strategic concept, without however evoking an exit from the Atlantic alliance.
Qualifying as "treason" the breach of the contract of submarines, Mr. Bertrand believes that "France is not intended to be treated like a servant of the Americans" for whom "it is always + America First +".
"It is time that we have the same vision for France" and "nothing prevents having discussions with China, with India", he said, deeming "urgent to renew a political dialogue high level with President Putin "and" with our European friends ", which" will also lead to a clarification of Germany ".
According to him, we must also "see if there is not cooperation that we can now call into question (...) especially in the space field".
Mr. Bertrand, leading in the polls on the right without crushing the match, called on Emmanuel Macron to "explain himself" on these subjects, regretting a head of state "in the shelters".
"He knows how to deal with many things that are not at the level of a President of the Republic (...) but there, when it comes to the interest of France, he did not expressed, "he regretted.
© 2021 AFP