Softening stance? French far-left party hints at supporting NATO in case of attack

The French far-left La France Insoumise (LFI) would be in favour of France providing help to a NATO country attacked by Russia, its lead candidate, Manon Aubry, told national public radio on Wednesday (3 April), hinting at a softening of the party’s long-lasting anti-NATO stance.

The comments by Aubry, who will lead LFI in June’s EU elections, came after Poland announced last week a Russian missile had crossed into Polish airspace, raising alarms that Russia’s invasion could – even mistakenly – expand beyond Ukraine.

Polish President Donald Tusk told journalists over the weekend that Europe had entered “pre-war era”, adding that  “war is no longer a concept from the past”.

Speaking on public broadcaster Franceinfo, Aubry said that “we have a duty of mutual assistance [towards Poland]”.

France “would have to help them defend themselves,” should Poland or any other NATO member be attacked, she said in the context of the pressing Russia threat.

“We have to say it, because that’s diplomacy: if tomorrow a European country is attacked, of course we’ll have to show solidarity”, Aubry told Franceinfo, without mentioning explicitly whether she would also support non-European NATO members.

Such duty befalls all members of the Western military alliance  – which includes Poland and France, but also the United States and Turkey – because an armed attack against one will be interpreted as an attack against all members, who can step in and retaliate.

The EU treaties also suggest that members of the bloc could be asked by one of their own for support in case of an attack. It was raised once by France, after the 2015 terrorist attacks, for the sake of stepping up anti-terrorism measures, which led to the tightening of border controls across the bloc.

Softening the anti-NATO line?

LFI has historically held an anti-NATO line and its members have continuously called for radical non-alignment, be it with Washington or Moscow, just two months ahead of EU elections.

“LFI will call for France’s immediate withdrawal from NATO’s integrated command and then, step by step, from the entire organisation,” said the 2022 legislative election manifesto of the then (now virtually dead) left-wing alliance NUPES. Back then, LFI said they would ask for a parliamentary vote to enshrine the decision to withdraw.

This ardent anti-NATO feeling is also very stringent within the Left political group in the European Parliament, of which Aubry is co-president.

“Now the People”, one of the Left group’s constitutive parties, told Euractiv the EU should not adopt a foreign policy based on “shoot-outs and nuclear threats, but should instead focus on the defence of human rights, international law, and the restauration of diplomacy and peace”.

Another Left group member, the European Left Party (ELP), stressed in its elections manifesto that policy decisions, from defence to free-trade agreements, should be taken “in an independent manner, without subordinating these relations to the geopolitical interests of the USA and NATO”.

“Peace Party”

The slight change of tone may indicate the party has realised that very strong opposition to NATO now could backfire, with growing warnings that Russia’s aggression may not stop with Ukraine and EU leaders gearing up for a more intense conflict in coming years.

On the far-right side of the political spectrum, the Rassemblement national (RN), which had pledged to have France leave NATO’s integrated command during the 2022 presidential elections, also said last week it would not consider it while the war is on.

Aubry’s possible softening does not mean she’s letting go of the party’s fundamentals, however.

LFI hopes to prove it is the only “peace party” ahead of the June EU vote, looking for a diplomatic outcome to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine through direct negotiations with Moscow.

During LFI’s first campaign meeting on 16 March, the party’s founder and thought-leader Jean-Luc Mélenchon criticised Europe’s “warmongering” efforts, instead calling for peace negotiations that would “give each of the two parties mutual guarantees”.

As conditions for lasting peace, he cited an immediate and permanent ceasefire, a referendum in both Ukraine and Russia once peace negotiations are over, and demilitarised zones around nuclear power stations.

In her interview, Aubry also voiced doubt about the idea of creating a European commissioner for defence – aired last month by European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen – instead claiming that “the priority at this stage is to relaunch coordination of [European] military production”.

[Edited by Aurélie Pugnet/Zoran Radosavljevic]

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