The impassioned call by France's new general counsel to mayors to prepare their voters for a possible war with Russia was met with swift condemnation from major political parties, Politico reported.
Speaking at an annual meeting of French mayors in Paris on Tuesday, General Fabien Mandon urged local authorities to prepare citizens that they may have to "accept suffering to defend what we are".
"We have all the knowledge, all the economic and demographic power to stop the Moscow regime," Mandon said.
But he said that if France "is not ready to accept the loss "...to our children, to suffer economically because priorities will be given to the production of defense products, then we are at risk."
Parties from both ends of the political spectrum - together representing a significant share of the electorate - opposed it, highlighting the lack of consensus in France on the need to prepare for war, as well as differing assessments of what threat Russia poses to the French homeland. Many NATO countries fear that Moscow could attack the alliance in some way by 2030.
Far-left leader Jean-Luc Mélenchon, who has run for president three times, expressed his "total disagreement" with Mandon in an article in X and said it was not Mandon's job to "expect casualties that would result from our diplomatic failures".
He was joined by Communist Party leader Fabien Roussel, who accused Mandon of "incitement to war".
Mélenchon's "France Invincible" and the Communists were the only parliamentary groups to vote against a symbolic resolution last year authorizing the sending of military aid to Ukraine.
Sébastien Chenu, an MP for Marine Le Pen's far-right "National Rally" party, said Wednesday in an interview with French television LCI that Mandon "has no legitimacy" to make such remarks and said he was concerned that they reflected the thinking of President Emmanuel Macron.
Mandon, who was appointed earlier this year to replace General Thierry Burkhard as France's top general, warned during his first parliamentary hearing last month that the French armed forces must be ready "in three or four years" for a "shock" with regard to Russia.
"France Indépendant" and "National Assembly", which according to recent polls could face each other in the next presidential election run-off, both want France to leave NATO's integrated command. While "France Indépendant" wants Paris to leave the military alliance as soon as possible, "National Assembly" is prepared to wait until Russia's war in Ukraine is over before doing so.