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France could withdraw from NATO’s integrated command if right-wing comes to power

Leader of France's right-wing National Rally party Jordan Bardella poined out that his party would support the withdrawal of France from NATO’s integrated command in the 2027 presidential election only if the conflict in Ukraine ends

BRUSSELS, March 29. /TASS/. The leader of France's right-wing National Rally party Jordan Bardella said that if he comes to power, he will take France out of NATO’s integrated command, but only after the conflict in Ukraine is over.

"The proposal we've always advocated <…> did not factor in war," he told Politico. The politician poined out that his party would support the withdrawal of France from NATO’s integrated command in the 2027 presidential election only if the conflict in Ukraine ends. "You don't change treaties in wartime," Bardella added.

Earlier, Marine Le Pen, the 2022 presidential candidate of the National Rally party, voiced the intention to withdraw France from NATO’s integrated command. She emphasized that she would like to propose to the countries of the alliance to carry out a strategic rapprochement with Russia.

France was at the origin of the North Atlantic Treaty, which laid the foundation for NATO. In 1966, by a decision of the then President Charles de Gaulle, France withdrew from NATO’s integrated command, maintaining a presence only in the political structure of the organization in the context of the conflict with the United States. At the time, the alliance's headquarters was moved from Paris to Brussels, and US military bases in France were closed. In 2009, under President Nicolas Sarkozy, Paris fully restored its membership in NATO.

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