French President Nicolas Sarkozy announced on Wednesday that France would return to the NATO military command and seek a larger role as a full partner of the US and its other Atlantic allies.
Four decades after former French president General Charles de Gaulle declared France’s independence from the command structure, while remaining a political member of the alliance, Sarkozy said the time had come to once more play a leading role.
“A state alone, a solitary nation, is a nation without influence and if we want to count for something we have to know how to bind ourselves to allies and friendships,” Sarkozy told a defense seminar in Paris.
“France wants peace, France wants freedom and France also knows who our friends are and who our enemies are. I’m not afraid to say it, our friends and allies are first and foremost the Western family,” he said.
Speaking as commander in chief, Sarkozy said France had been moving closer to playing a full role in NATO’s missions and committees ever since De Gaulle’s decision to withdraw from the command in 1966.
“In ending this long process, France will be stronger and more influential. Why? Because those who are absent are always in the wrong. Because France must be a joint leader rather than submit to others,” he said.
Sarkozy said France’s independent nuclear deterrent would remain outside NATO control, but argued that since the US and the UK have the same policy, this does not represent a continued exclusion.
The president and his supporters insist the move will boost France’s influence among the Western allies, and allow Paris to promote a common European identity without this being seen as a rival to the US alliance.
Critics counter that Paris will now lose face internationally and be seen as a subordinate to the US.
On a day-to-day military level not much will change. France has long played a major role in NATO operations, fielding troops under allied command in Bosnia, Kosovo and now notably in the dangerous Afghan campaign.
But De Gaulle’s decision has a powerful symbolic significance for the French, who are traditionally wary of falling under the domination of Washington and value their country’s independent foreign policy.
Since the fall of the Berlin Wall, this half-in half-out stance has for many observers become an anomaly, with France’s close involvement in NATO missions in the Balkans drawing it closer into alliance decision-making.
The US welcomed Sarkozy’s decision.
“We are delighted that after a 43-year absence, France is back where it belongs, in the command structure of the alliance it helped found,” US Defense Department press secretary Geoff Morrell said in a statement. “Although their troops have been bravely fighting alongside ours in Afghanistan, it is welcome news to have them fully re-integrated in all NATO military matters.”
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