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.
“[The Germans want to build Europe’s] largest conventional army, to do what? … 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.
“Do you realize that [they’re] firing with French and British weapons? We’re becoming belligerents,” he said.