Marine Le Pen has vowed to try and prevent President Emmanuel Macron from sending troops to Ukraine, should her National Rally party form a government. In the event that French soldiers are requested to assist those in the eastern European nation, Le Pen said she would use every tool at her disposal to keep them at home.
Le Pen argued that her prodigy and top choice for prime minister, Jordan Bardella, would "set red lines" and block the president from exercising his power as commander in chief, which she claimed was an "honorary title." Under the French constitution, however, Macron has the power to overrule parliament, and the prime minister, on matters of defence.
"Chief of the armed forces, for the president, is an honorary title since it is the prime minister who holds the purse strings, Le Pen said during an interview with Le Télégramme on Thursday, adding that Bardella "has no intention of picking a fight with [Macron], but he has set red lines. On Ukraine, the president will not be able to send troops."
She added that, "the Constitution is pretty clear on everything," however as the Telegraph reports, Armed Forces Minister Sébastian Lacornu cited the same document to disagree. Article 15 reads, "The President of the Republic shall be Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces. He shall preside over the higher national defence councils and committees."
"The Constitution is not honorary," Lacornu noted, before quoting a speech delivered by former president General Charles de Gaulle. "In the essential areas of foreign policy and national security," De Gaulle said, "[the president] is required to take direct action, since under the Constitution, he negotiates and concludes treaties, since he is the head of the Armed Forces, since he presides over defence."
While Macron has not explicitly said he would send troops to the war-torn nation, when asked, he replied, "I'm not ruling anything out, because we are facing someone who is not ruling anything out."
"I have a clear strategic objective," he added. "Russia cannot win in Ukraine."
