NICOLAS SARKOZY made the most symbolic foreign policy gesture of his presidency yesterday by announcing France’s return to Nato’s military command, and reversing Charles de Gaulle’s decision to walk out in protest at US domination more than 40 years ago.
In an impassioned speech at Paris’s military academy, Mr Sarkozy said France’s return to Nato’s inner sanctum was long overdue. He dismissed as “lies” his political opponents’ fears that French independence would now be sacrificed to America.
“A nation alone is a nation with no influence,” he said of France’s self-imposed exile from Nato’s military command at the height of the Cold War. He said it was logical that France, which is the fourth-biggest provider of troops to Nato and has led missions in Kosovo and Afghanistan, should cement years of growing influence in Nato by retaking its place at the table of the military command that plans and conducts operations.
The president said France could no longer believe that “waiting outside the door” as key Nato decisions were made would preserve French independence on defence issues. “We have to stop deluding ourselves that by burying our heads in the sand, we are capable of protecting anything,” he said.
France’s return to the fold of the US-led alliance will make little difference on the ground in missions such as Afghanistan, where it has more than 2,800 troops. But the historic gesture nonetheless faces resistance from the French political establishment, where distrust of Nato runs deep. Although two polls this week showed more than half the French public supported rejoining the military command, politicians remain divided.
The French left and centre as well as Gaullists in Mr Sarkozy’s own centre-right party have warned that France would no longer be able to pursue its own diplomatic alliances and stand apart from Washington. Jean-Pierre Grand, a centre-right MP, warned that internationally, France would be seen as joining “an American war machine”. Others in the ruling party accused Mr Sarkozy of betraying his Gaullist heritage. The Socialist MP Jean-Louis Bianco said France would be forced to give up its special foreign policy standing and join “a race with Britain to be America’s pet”. He said it was dangerous for France to be seen as part of a “western bloc against the Arab and Muslim world”.
The French parliament will vote on the move next week.
Mr Sarkozy intends to celebrate France’s return to the fold at Nato’s 60th birthday summit in Strasbourg next month and with a symbolic trip to the second World War Normandy beaches with Barack Obama. He repeated yesterday that Paris was a “friend” of the US, which had come to France’s rescue in two wars.
Jean-Pierre Maulny, a defence expert at Paris's Institute for International and Strategic Relations, said: "Rejoining the Nato command won't change anything with regard to French policy. It's more a question of perception abroad, above all in the Middle East. France has a certain specificity in its foreign policy. Arab countries could get the feeling that we are more aligned to American policy. Likewise in France, there could be a perception that this is a betrayal of de Gaulle. But it's more a question of perception than reality." – ( Guardianservice)