He said the far-right candidate’s proposals represent a plan to isolate France from its main strategic partners, the United States, Germany and the United Kingdom. In her defense manifesto, Le Pen expressed hope for a restored Lancaster Treaty, the Franco-British Defense Cooperation Treaty first signed in 2010, and highlighted it by depicting her defense plans with an image of the union and the tricolor flags. Lord Ricketts described her proposals as “ignorant, superficial and completely misunderstood the basis of France’s cooperation with all its allies.” “It’s a recipe for disaster for France,” he said. “There is a protracted hypothesis in her proposals that a Brexit Britain would be a natural ally for a nationalist Le Pen France. “But what emerges from her proposals is that France, under her leadership, would be a very dangerous ally for the United Kingdom with its plan to abandon NATO’s military command structure, to renegotiate its alliance with America, to “It is much more nationalistic in the defense equipment market and the continuation of a strategic partnership with Russia in all areas.” He added: “It’s honestly unthinkable that it could bring a wedge between the US and the UK. “He has an idea that if the UK wants to have a close alliance with a Le Pen France, the UK should show goodwill by buying French equipment, such as the Exocet, and abandoning US defense equipment. There is also talk of abandoning the Franco-British Joint Expeditionary Force, as it considers that it has no practical purpose. “No British government or NATO ally is going to damage its defense relationship with France for these reasons. “It shows a complete misunderstanding if he thinks Britain would be interested in a defense relationship at the Le Pen base.” He added: “France’s closest military allies are the United States, the United Kingdom and Germany, but its proposal is the foundation of all these agreements that can and will change. It is a recipe for complete isolation for France. He takes care of Germany [with] short shift. The US must accept France’s withdrawal from NATO’s command structure, while Britain must somehow buy France’s cooperation by buying French defense equipment and not the US. “Apart from its relationship with Russia, I do not see how any of France’s traditional alliances would survive its presidency. “It would be much better for her to be honest in her defense manifesto and replace the Union flag with the Russian flag, because that is the only possible ally she is likely to find.” Le Pen has already insisted that bilateral relations, as opposed to multilateral ones, will be at the heart of French foreign policy. But Ricketts said it seemed intent on undermining all of France’s most important bilateral relations. Although Le Pen has insisted that it has no interest in Frexit, its defense manifesto echoes Boris Johnson’s World War II strategy paper, suggesting that France should expand its influence in the world to new areas, including India. Pacific. It seems willing to ignore the UK’s decision to form an alliance in the Indo-Pacific with Australia and the US, even though it has excluded France from the region.
