The president of the National Rally, Jordan Bardella, assured Thursday that he would not let “Russian imperialism absorb an allied state like Ukraine” while repeating that he would refuse the sending of French soldiers to Ukrainian soil. he became Prime Minister following the legislative elections.
“My position is very simple on this conflict (…) It has never changed. It is that of support for Ukraine and to avoid an escalation with Russia which is, I remind you, a nuclear power”, declared the far-right leader during the last televised debate with Prime Minister Gabriel Attal and socialist Olivier Faure.
Asked about the comments of Marine Le Pen who estimated the day before that the role of chief of the armed forces for the President of the Republic is reduced to an “honorary title”, Jordan Bardella, candidate for Matignon if the RN obtains an absolute majority in the The outcome of the legislative elections did not back down.
“It is the Prime Minister who decides the operating budget of the armies,” he insisted.
A position that Gabriel Attal strongly denounced: “Behind the +honorary title+, there is the idea that the President of the Republic would no longer be able to make decisions,” he warned.
“If the National Rally were to win this election, there would be a form of dispute between the Prime Minister and the President of the Republic over who should have the role of head of the armed forces,” he added. “It is a message sent to the world powers, to the whole world, which is a very serious message for the security of the French.”
For Olivier Faure, Marine Le Pen’s comments show that the far right is seeking to “take over the institutions”. Jordan Bardella wants to “take everything,” he accused.
The RN president also said he was again opposed to sending long-range missiles that could directly strike Russian territory.
This could “place France and the French in a situation of co-belligerence,” he said.
The first secretary of the Socialist Party said, on the contrary, that he was “favorable” to sending missiles if they “allow infrastructure to be targeted on Russian soil which is used to bomb Ukrainian soil”.
For his part, Gabriel Attal, who is leading the campaign for the presidential camp, reiterated that it was necessary to support the Ukrainians both “because they defend values that are ours: democracy, freedom” and “because that by supporting them, we are also defending the French and their daily lives.”
