French presidential candidate Marine Le Pen called on Wednesday for NATO-Russia reconciliation and reiterated her commitment to withdraw French personnel from the NATO-led administration if elected president on April 24. “Once the Russia-Ukraine war is over and a peace treaty is reached, I will call for a strategic approach between NATO and Russia,” Lepen told a news conference on Wednesday. Will France elect its first far-right president? Predictions that President Emanuel Macron could surpass Le Pen later this month by four to six percentage points in the second round of the presidential election have angered supporters of the president as well as governments across Europe. The current center-back defeated Le Pen by more than 30 percentage points in the second round of the 2017 presidential election. Le Pen’s comments were one of the strongest indications during the campaign that a Le Pen presidency could fundamentally overturn France’s role in the Western Alliances and be a major strategic challenge for France’s traditional allies. Although Lepen has condemned the Russian invasion of Ukraine, she has long been widely regarded as an ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin. Just days before the Russian invasion, Lepen attacked NATO’s founding principles. It seemed to soften its criticism of the military alliance after the invasion, but nevertheless indicated that its presidency would be a challenge to the organization’s survival in its current form. In an interview, she said NATO needs to reorient its focus on fighting Islamic extremism. Russia threatens nuclear shipment to Baltic region if Finland, Sweden join NATO Candidates for the presidency of France on both the far right and the far left remain skeptical of NATO in the light of the war in Ukraine. (Video: James Cornsilk, Rick Noack / The Washington Post, Photo: The Washington Post) Polls suggest a majority of French audiences support the alliance, but skepticism about NATO is widespread in the country’s politics. “In general, the French public is more transatlantic than the political class would like,” said Tara Barma, head of the European Council on Foreign Relations in Paris. France’s far left and far right have long criticized NATO as an alliance that largely revolves around US interests. What is NATO and why is Ukraine not a member? In recent weeks, three of the top presidential candidates have been sharply critical of NATO. The trio included far-right candidate Eric Zemour and far-left candidate Jean-Luc Melanson, who vowed to pull France out of the alliance. Neither of them entered the second round of the elections, which will be the second round between Le Pen and the champion Macron. Le Pen’s plans for a limited withdrawal from NATO are based on a precedent set by former French General and President Charles de Gaulle, who temporarily suspended France’s participation in NATO’s military command structure in 1966. NATO describes its command structure as its “backbone” the alliance, a structure consisting of multiple headquarters that manage its activities. In a 2019 interview, Macron became the last French president to shake the alliance when he warned of “brain death”. His comments were prompted by the transatlantic rift caused by President Trump and the immediate military intervention by NATO member Turkey in Syria. More recently, however, the French leader has signaled support for the alliance. “I think NATO has just been electrocuted,” Macron told reporters after the invasion, pointing out that the alliance was developing a development that could strengthen it.
