France's far-right, anti-immigration National Rally has hardened its stance against Russia in order to win over voters ahead of snap parliamentary elections. But there are concerns about the party’s true motivations on foreign policy and what would happen if the RN wins enough votes to run the government.
Russia is a “multi-dimensional threat both for France and for Europe”, RN president Jordan Bardella said on Monday in an attempt to clarify what has been a muddy relationship.
If the RN wins enough seats in the National Assembly in the 30 June and 7 July elections, Bardella could become prime minister, which would put him in charge of administering the army and approving budgets.
He would, however, share his foreign policy responsibilities with the president, who remains the head of the army and responsible for naming ambassadors and ratifying treaties.
'Intransigent'
Presenting the RN's policy lines, Bardella said that as prime minister he would be respectful of the president’s role, though “intransigent” on his party's policies, which he said he would have the democratic backing to carry out.
The nationalist RN has pushed for more independent French foreign policy. It has moved away from being overtly eurosceptic and instead would like to see a reform of the EU. Until last week, the party had vowed to leave NATO's integrated military command.
The RN’s policy platform published online Monday focuses on immigration, insisting on the need to protect France from the a “migratory submersion”.
The platform also evokes the need to defend France’s territory “in a degraded international environment”, without giving any specifics.
The Gaza and Ukraine wars are not mentioned, though Bardella said he would not roll back France’s support of Ukraine.
Ukraine support?
"I do not intend to call into question the commitments made by France on the international scene and harm our credibility at a time of war at Europe's door,” he said.
However, he said he would not support sending French troops to Ukraine, nor sending long-range weapons
“My red line remains long-range missiles or any military equipment that could lead to escalation, by which I mean anything that could directly hit Russian cities,” he specified.
Nicolas Tenzer, who teaches political philosophy at Sciences Po in Paris, says the party’s voting record on Ukraine tells a different story from what Bardella is now saying.
“The National Rally, whether in the French or European parliament, has never voted for a single resolution in favour of Ukraine, nor for any resolution clearly condemning Russian aggression and war crimes,” he told RFI.
”If National Rally MPs were to win a majority in the National Assembly, they could block any budget in support of Ukraine. In practical terms, this means that Ukraine would be completely sacrificed.”
Muddy ties with Russia
Russia has supported far-right leaders around the world, and in Europe it has tried to exploit any divisions that could weaken support for Ukraine.
The RN’s relationship to Russia is unclear. Former RN leader and presidential candidate Marine Le Pen, who has visited Moscow on many occasions and has received positive Russian state media coverage, has said she admired President Vladimir Putin.
Last year the party finally paid off a €9.4 million loan it received from a Russian bank to keep itself afloat in 2014.
The relationship to Russia is problematic for a group of 170 diplomats who published an open letter Sunday raising the alarm of an RN government in charge of foreign policy.
“We have seen Russia invade sovereign states and destroy with a line of tanks what had guaranteed peace on the European continent,” they wrote.
Michel Foucher, a former French ambassador to Latvia and former director of the Foreign Ministry’s policy centre agrees that a government run by the RN, with its problematic ties to Russia, would make France more vulnerable.
“We must be sure that these people at the gates of power respect the code of ethics in terms of intelligence, in terms of interference. That is what worries me,” he told RFI.
“The Kremlin will have agents of influence and information. There are links [with the RN] that have long been established. So we must be vigilant.”
Foucher is also sceptical of Bardella’s statements.
“There is always doublespeak,” he said. “Just because Bardella says something doesn't mean he'll apply it, because in general he doesn’t.”
Imagining a far-right government in France, in the Spotlight on France podcast, episode 113, listen here.
