Marine Le Pen sets the tone for a possible tense cohabitation

Less than a week before the first round of the legislative elections, Marine Le Pen has increased tension over possible cohabitation by reducing the President of the Republic’s role of head of the armed forces to a simple “honorary title”.

Marine Le Pen questioned, on Thursday, June 27, the powers of the head of state in military matters. The National Rally has not yet won the legislative elections, Jordan Bardella is not yet installed at Matignon, and Marine Le Pen is already sounding the charge against Emmanuel Macron. According to her, “head of the armed forces”, the title that Article 15 of the Constitution attributes to the President of the Republic, would be only a “honorary title”. The formula made the tenors of the majority jump. François Bayrou denounced a “serious statement” Who “calls into question the Constitution.” The Minister of the Armed Forces, Sébastien Lecornu, exhumed a speech by the founder of the Fifth Republic, General de Gaulle, stating that the president, “guarantor of the country’s independence”has “direct action in matters of national security.” And Prime Minister Gabriel Attal accused Marine Le Pen of calling into question “the chain of command” at the risk of endangering the security of the nation.

Marine Le Pen backpedaled a few hours later, asserting that she did not want to “to challenge the president’s reserved domain”but only to remind that the Prime Minister can oppose his decisions “through budgetary control”. Which is true. The Prime Minister is also “responsible for National Defense” and it is he who “appoints to civilian and military positions”, that is Article 21 of the Constitution. Except that it is indeed the Head of State who presides over the defense councils, and decides on sending troops abroad or using nuclear weapons. There is, of course, a shared responsibility, the two heads of the executive can neutralize each other, but the role of the President of the Republic in matters of defense remains “predominant”, According to the Constitutional Council, it is therefore not just a “honorary title”.

Marine Le Pen has decided to engage in this battle to set the tone for a possible cohabitation. The RN wants to strip and even humiliate Emmanuel Macron, a treatment that is supposed to delight its electoral base. The Le Penist party is taking the risk of staging a kind of coup de force and damaging the presidential office, which could backfire on it. Given the gap that separates the two parties in terms of foreign policy, we can see to what extent cohabitation with the far-right party is also a leap into the unknown on these essential, even existential, issues. The RN has opposed most arms deliveries to Ukraine and the Kremlin has made it known that it is following the legislative elections in France “with attention”. There is no doubt that President Zelensky, who is hoping for fighter planes promised by France, fears the result that could come out of the ballot boxes on July 7.