Marine Le Pen, whose far-right party is at the gates of power in France, upped the ante three days before the first round of voting, asserting that the title of “chief of the armies” for the President of the Republic was only “honorary”, attracting the wrath of the presidential camp and its allies.
In the event of a clear success for the National Rally (RN), Marine Le Pen outlined, in an interview with the newspaper Telegrama tough cohabitation with the center-right president Emmanuel Macron: “Head of the armed forces, for the president, it is an honorary title since it is the prime minister who holds the purse strings.” Consequence, according to her: “on Ukraine, the president will not be able to send troops”, while Emmanuel Macron refused to exclude this option.
The post of prime minister will go to the far-right party, probably to RN leader Jordan Bardella, if he wins an absolute majority in the Assembly at the end of the elections on June 30 and July 7.
However, the RN, which has long maintained close ties with Moscow, officially supports Ukraine but its policy if it comes to power will raise serious concerns in Europe.
Jordan Bardella stated on Thursday evening that he would not let “Russian imperialism absorb an allied state like Ukraine” while insisting that he would refuse to send French soldiers to Ukrainian soil if he became prime minister after the legislative elections.
“My position is very simple on this conflict […] It has never varied. It is that of support for Ukraine and avoiding an escalation with Russia which is, I remind you, a nuclear power,” he declared during a televised debate with the current Prime Minister Gabriel Attal and left-wing candidate Olivier Faure, 24 hours before the end of the official campaign set for Friday at midnight.
“I am also opposed to sending long-range missiles that could, for example, directly strike Russian territory and place France and the French in a situation of co-belligerence,” he continued.
Gabriel Attal reacted by believing that “the message that was sent by Madame Le Pen is clear: if the National Rally were to win this election, there would be a form of dispute between the Prime Minister and the President of the Republic to know who has the role of leader of the armies.” “It is a message sent to the world powers, to the whole world, which is a very serious message for the security of the French and for survival,” he argued.
In kyiv, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky was optimistic. “We believe that the French will continue to support Ukraine whatever the political situation,” he told AFP.
“We are convinced that the next government will be independent of the Russian aggressor and will remain committed to European values and a strong and united Europe, the very Europe that Ukraine defends against Russian tyranny,” he added. .
During the three previous political cohabitations in France, the president had retained broad powers in international policy and defense, under what is generally considered a “reserved domain”.
For the moment, the extreme right is widely expected to lead the first round on Sunday, with 36% of voting intentions, according to an Ipsos-Fondation Jean-Jaurès-Cevipof-Institut Montaigne survey for the newspaper Le Monde covering nearly 12,000 people.
According to this vast study, which does not offer seat projections, the left would gather 29% of the votes, President Macron’s camp 19.5% and Les Républicains (traditional right) 8%.
Several thousand people gathered against the far right on Thursday evening in Paris, three days before the first round.
Interest in these early legislative elections is undeniable: more than 410,000 French people abroad took part in the online vote, which closed this Thursday at noon, — compared to 250,000 in 2022 — a record.
After Kylian Mbappé, other French sports stars took a position on these elections on Thursday. Basketball player Victor Wembanyama, 20, said it was “important to move away from extremes”. Volleyball player Earvin Ngapeth, 33, candidate to be flag bearer for the Blues at the Paris Olympic Games, “encourages votes against the RN”.