PARIS — Far-left presidential hopeful Jean-Luc Mélenchon wants to pull France from NATO — but that doesn’t mean Paris would stop protecting Europe’s external borders. Asked on Thursday whether he would withdraw French troops currently stationed in Estonia and Romania under a NATO framework, he told POLITICO: “That’s irrelevant; these countries are members of the EU and fall under the scope of European treaties.” “Being out of NATO does not mean we are abandoning the defense of our common borders,” he added, speaking at the Playbook Paris Live summit. Mélenchon is among the front-runners in next spring’s high-stakes presidential election to replace Emmanuel Macron, according to polls.
He and far-right rival Marine Le Pen both want Paris to pull back from the military alliance, raising alarm bells at NATO headquarters about France’s future defense policy. Leaving NATO is a matter of “dignity” given U.S. President Donald Trump’s behavior toward Europeans, Mélenchon told POLITICO.
He doubled down on his opposition to Germany’s massive rearmament, accusing Berlin of not having coordinated with its neighbors and pointing to the “history” of German attacks against France. We need to talk about this, and you’re going to tell us why,” he said. The far-left political veteran also wants to move toward a ban on Ukrainian deep strikes into Russian territory.
We’re becoming belligerents,” he said.
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