Just three days before France's landmark parliamentary election, the country's far-right leader Marine Le Pen raised the uncomfortable question of who will lead the army if her party takes power after the second round of elections, the Associated Press and France Press reported, citing BTA.
The snap election takes France into uncharted territory, with political scientists scrambling to decipher how exactly President Emmanuel Macron and a prime minister hostile to most of his policies will share power if the "National Assembly" of Marine Le Pen won a majority in the National Assembly, the lower house of the French parliament.
Le Pen has repeatedly said that Jordan Bardela, her protégé and star leader of her party, will lead France's next government if her increasingly popular party wins. In her interview, she says that Bardella, who is only 28 years old and has no managerial experience, will also make at least some decisions about France's defense and its armed forces.
There are still three years left in Macron's term.
The post of commander-in-chief of the armed forces "is an honorary title for the president, because in fact the prime minister is the one who pulls the strings,", Le Pen said in an interview with the "Telegram", published today.
During the nationally televised debate tonight, Bardella declined to answer repeated questions asking him to explain Le Pen's statement. "The Constitution, the entire Constitution and nothing but the Constitution," the far-right politician stressed. "The president is the head of the armed forces, but the prime minister is the one who determines, for example, the budget of these armed forces."
When pressed for more details about the French president's exact responsibilities on military matters, Bardela tried to change the subject, instead reiterating his position on the Russian-led war in Ukraine, AP notes.
The French constitution says that "the president of the republic is head of the armed forces" and also "presides over the councils and high committees of national defense". However, the constitution also says that "the prime minister is responsible for national defense".
According to constitutional experts, the prime minister's exact role in foreign policy and defense appears to be open to interpretation. This is an issue with potentially global implications: France has nuclear weapons, and its troops and military personnel are deployed in many conflict zones around the world, AP recalls.
Jordan Bardela stressed that he would not allow "Russian imperialism to engulf an allied country like Ukraine," while insisting that he would refuse to send French troops to Ukraine if he became prime minister after the election.
"My position on this conflict is very simple. She never changed. It is to support Ukraine and avoid escalation with Russia, which, I remind you, is a nuclear power," he said during a televised debate with current Prime Minister Gabriel Attal and leftist candidate Olivier Faure.
Bardela, whose party is tipped as the favorite in the June 30 and July 7 elections, stressed the fact that sending French troops to Ukraine would risk turning France into a belligerent country, "and therefore a risk from escalation against nuclear power".
According to him, this position also isolates France from its European partners. "There are many European countries that expressly do not want their soldiers to be sent to Ukraine," he said. "I am also against sending long-range missiles that could, for example, directly hit Russian territory and put France and the French in a situation" to be a party to the conflict, he continued.
On the other hand, Socialist Olivier Faure said he "supports" the sending of missiles, "if they are missiles that can be used to target infrastructure on Russian territory that is used to bombard Ukrainian territory".
"This is not only a matter for the Ukrainians, but also for us. Because these borders are the borders of freedom, the borders of Europe", he added.
For his part, Gabriel Atal, a presidential candidate from Emmanuel Macron's party, emphasized again that we should support the Ukrainians both "because they defend values that are ours: democracy, freedom", and "because, by supporting them, we also protect the French and their daily life.
"If this war ends because Russia wins in Ukraine, it will be just as terrible for the daily lives of the French," he warned, pointing to inflation "which will explode even more" and "a very large migration wave in Europe".
The current French prime minister also recalled Le Pen's remarks questioning President Macron's status as head of the armed forces.
"The message sent by Mrs Le Pen is clear: if the National Assembly wins these elections, there will be some dispute between the prime minister and the president of the republic about who will fulfill the role of head of the armed forces," he said. "This is a message sent to world powers, to the whole world, which is a very serious message for the security of the French people and for their survival," Attal stressed.