Gauthier Delomez 12:30 p.m., March 23, 2022

NATO is one of the central stakes of the crisis in Ukraine.

In this context, France can decide to stay in this organization, to withdraw from the integrated command or to leave it completely.

Discover the positions of the main candidates, from the most favorable (Pécresse, Macron...) to the most critical (Mélenchon, Le Pen, Zemmour...).

The war in Ukraine has turned the spotlight on an international military alliance: NATO.

The North Atlantic Treaty Organization is decried by many candidates, who accuse it of being ineffective in resolving the Ukrainian conflict, and of being too dependent on the United States.

In November 2019, President Emmanuel Macron declared that this Western alliance was in a state of "brain death", without however wanting to leave it.

Europe 1 takes stock of the proposals of the main presidential candidates.

Nicolas Dupont-Aignan

"Faithful to the thought of General de Gaulle", the candidate of Debout la France!

Nicolas Dupont-Aignan wants to get France out of NATO's integrated command.

The deputy recalls the episode of the Australian submarines, "an Anglo-Saxon betrayal" which "illustrates the danger for France of being encapsulated in an organization subservient to American interests".

The "military and strategic" independence regained by France should enable it to defend "its higher interest", explains the candidate.

Anne Hidalgo

Anne Hidalgo does not mention NATO in her program, but in a November 2021 tweet, the mayor of Paris stressed that the United States and France were "unwavering allies" who shared a "common history".

The candidate of the Socialist Party still puts forward a "sovereign Europe".

"We must work to guarantee our interests and our values ​​in the face of the 'G2' United States / China, but also to guarantee respect for the territorial integrity of the Member States (of the EU) in the face of the 'brutalisation' of relations international”, she defends in her program.

Yannick Jadot

If Yannick Jadot estimated on France Inter that NATO was "an empty shell", the environmental candidate does not advance the project to get out of it.

The MEP wants to "rebalance the transatlantic partnership by strengthening defense Europe", based on the withdrawal from Afghanistan, the Australian submarine affair and the Ukrainian crisis.

In his program, Yannick Jadot wishes to "strengthen European strategic autonomy and reduce the dependence of the Member States of the European Union on the United States in the field of defence."

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Marine Le Pen

The position of the National Rally in this presidential election is to have France leave the integrated command of the Atlantic alliance, because this "is incompatible with the status of sovereign power, diplomatic and military independence and the free definition of the use nuclear force" of France.

Marine Le Pen promises a withdrawal from 2022, recalling the similar decision taken by General de Gaulle in 1966, to "reconfigure the relationship that France has with the United States" especially after the submarine affair.

Emmanuel Macron

Outgoing President Emmanuel Macron wants to strengthen in a second term "the coordination of our operations with our European allies with a European headquarters (...), in connection with the national command centers and NATO", is it detailed on the website dedicated to his candidacy.

He also wants to create a "European Security Council" which would be made up of "soldiers, diplomats and intelligence experts, to advise European decision-makers".

Jean-Luc Melenchon

The candidate of rebellious France, Jean-Luc Mélenchon, is more critical of the North Atlantic alliance.

If elected, he will initiate an "immediate withdrawal of France from NATO's integrated command", before considering a total withdrawal "in stages" from the organization.

L'Insoumis also expresses the desire to cancel the installation of a NATO space center of excellence in Toulouse.

Valerie Pécresse

In her program "New France", Valérie Pécresse wants "to keep France in the integrated command of NATO".

The Republican candidate believes that Emmanuel Macron "was unable to use the levers of the alliance and of Europe to build a real European defense policy".

For her, NATO is "a tool of influence, interoperability and efficiency for our armed forces".

This does not rule out the possibility for France to systematically favor its own interests "because alliance does not mean allegiance".

Eric Zemmour

To make France "a power of balance", the ex-polemicist Éric Zemmour defends an exit from the integrated military command of NATO.

According to him, this is the 

sine qua non

condition  for "finding an independent voice, while remaining within the Atlantic alliance. "Neither submission to the United States, nor enslavement to Russia, France must once again become a power independent", he launches in his program.

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