As expected, National Assembly lawmakers voted late on Tuesday in favor of a measure that effectively approved French President Nicolas Sarkozy’s decision to return France to NATO’s military command structure.
By a vote of 329 to 238, the deputies passed a vote of confidence in the foreign policy conducted by Prime Minister Francois Fillon and his government, including the decision to return to full NATO membership.
In 1966, then-president Charles de Gaulle pulled France out of the alliance’s military command and evicted US bases from French soil.
Tuesday’s vote in favor of the government was a foregone conclusion, because Sarkozy’s UMP party and its center-right allies hold a substantial majority in the National Assembly.
However, the debate was lively. Opposition deputies accused Sarkozy of avoiding a direct confrontation over the issue by linking the NATO measure with a vote of confidence in the government.
“This debate is decisive, but the decision has already been made,” former prime minister Laurent Fabius said.
Even conservative lawmakers had complained about the ploy.
“We’re condemned to vote for it,” UMP Deputy Georges Tron told the daily Le Parisien. “The executive is telling us: Push the nuclear button or shut up.”
Socialist Party head Martine Aubry said the return to NATO’s military command would be an obstacle in the construction of a European defense.
That argument was dismissed by Fillon, who told lawmakers during the debate that Europeans do not want to have to choose between NATO and their own, independent defense capability.
Sarkozy said earlier this month a return to full NATO membership would strengthen European defense capabilities by giving Paris a say in the alliance’s mission strategies and planning.
France will now officially be readmitted to the integrated NATO military command structure during the NATO summit from April 3 to April 5.
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