“Head of the armed forces, for the president (of the Republic), it is an honorary title since it is the Prime Minister who holds the purse strings,” warned Marine Le Pen on Wednesday, questioned on a possible cohabitation of the head of state with Jordan Bardella. “Jordan (Bardella) has no intention of picking a quarrel with him, but he has set red lines. On Ukraine, the president will not be able to send troops,” added the leader of the RN deputies in an interview with the regional daily The Telegram.
Emmanuel Macron opened the debate on sending Western soldiers to Ukraine in February, refusing to exclude the option. He was initially warmly welcomed before seeing allies – the Czech Republic, Poland, and the Baltic States in particular – join him. Some observers considered that the question was no longer whether, but when, European soldiers will be deployed, welcoming a “breaking of the taboo” and pleading to maintain the “strategic ambiguity” which consists of hiding from one’s enemy what the ‘we are not ready to do.
During a presentation in Paris of his program for the legislative elections, Jordan Bardella indicated on Monday that he was, on the contrary, making “sending (French) troops to Ukrainian soil” a “very clear red line.” “I do not intend to create the conditions or implement” such a project, he added, arguing that it was “his position” and “that of (his) political movement.”
A probable cohabitation
If the National Rally, the clear favourite in the polls, were to win the legislative elections of 30 June and 7 July, a situation of cohabitation between a president and a government of different political colours would be established.
During the three previous cohabitations of the Fifth Republic, the president had retained broad powers in matters of international policy and defense, in the name of an interpretation of the Constitution granting a “reserved domain” to the head of state.