French far-right candidate wants ‘rapprochement’ between NATO, Russia

PARIS

France’s far-right presidential candidate Marine Le Pen on Wednesday said she would call for a "rapprochement between NATO and Russia," and withdraw France from the integrated command of NATO if she defeats Emmanuel Macron for the presidency.

“As soon as the Russian-Ukrainian war is over and has been settled by a peace treaty (...), I will campaign for a strategic rapprochement between NATO and Russia," the National Rally candidate said at a news conference in Paris organized to present her manifesto for French diplomacy and foreign policy.

Her intentions toward Moscow and NATO are starkly opposite to the current positions of the French government, which is aiding the US-led alliance militarily in support of Ukraine.

Le Pen said such a rapprochement would be in the interest of global security as well as of the US.

“It is in the interest of France and Europe, but also, I believe, of the United States, which has (…) no interest in seeing the emergence of a close Sino-Russian union,” she added.

Le Pen had financed her 2017 presidential campaign with a €9-million loan from the First Czech-Russian Bank and had then vowed to end sanctions on Russia after coming to power.

In an interview with BFMTV broadcaster after the press conference, she also reiterated her stand that "sanctions against Russia were ineffective."

'Frexit' not on agenda

In the news conference, Le Pen said she would leave NATO’s integrated command as soon as she was in power as she had no desire to "submit to an American protectorate" or “engage against certain American wars."

She, however, assured to not “renounce Article 5 on mutual protection between members of the Atlantic Alliance.”

The presidential candidate also said that “Frexit” along the lines of Britain’s exit from the EU was not on her agenda.

“Frexit is by no means our project … We want to free ourselves from the shackles of Brussels …to reform Europe from the inside," she said.

She said that she wants to lower Paris’s contribution to the regional block to €5 billion euros from the current €8-9 billion euros.

Le Pen said shares a common vision with Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orban, whom she visited last year at the start of her presidential campaign.

She said they both have a desire to create a “European alliance of nations having a common vision” and to "prioritize national law over European treaties."