France’s far-left political party France Unbowed has pledged to withdraw the country from NATO, nationalize major defense companies and overhaul its military and space policies under a potential presidency of Jean-Luc Mélenchon.
The party outlined the proposals in its 222-page presidential platform released Friday, setting out a foreign and defense policy that would significantly reshape France’s relationship with NATO and its European allies.
“Immediately withdraw from NATO’s integrated command and then, in stages, from the organization itself. Reject the tribute demanded by the United States of 5% of GDP devoted to defense spending,” the document states.
The proposal marks a major departure from France’s current security arrangements and comes amid growing pressure from the United States on European NATO members to increase military spending. Washington has advocated a defense spending target of 5% of gross domestic product, a demand that France Unbowed strongly opposes.
However, the party says a French withdrawal from NATO would not mean abandoning European security commitments. Under its proposed approach, France would continue providing assistance to European Union member states in accordance with the bloc’s treaties, maintaining its obligations under the EU’s mutual assistance framework.
Mélenchon’s foreign policy proposals are attracting increasing attention as the 2027 French presidential election approaches. Several recent opinion polls have placed the France Unbowed leader in second position among potential candidates in the contest to succeed President Emmanuel Macron.
Under France’s two-round presidential election system, the two candidates receiving the highest number of votes in the first round advance to a runoff. Mélenchon could therefore face far-right leader Marine Le Pen in the decisive second round.
Interestingly, Le Pen’s National Rally also supports withdrawing France from NATO’s integrated military command, although the two political movements differ significantly on other foreign policy issues.
On Ukraine, France Unbowed does not explicitly propose ending French assistance, unlike the more restrictive position associated with the far-right party. Instead, its platform emphasizes the need for a diplomatic settlement to the war.
The party argues that any eventual peace agreement must be based on “collective security guarantees, between the belligerents and with the rest of Europe.” This approach suggests that France Unbowed would seek a negotiated settlement involving both the countries directly engaged in the conflict and wider European security arrangements.
The platform also calls for tighter international regulation of weapons, including lethal autonomous weapons systems and nuclear arms. The proposals reflect the party’s broader opposition to what it describes as the militarization of international relations.
Space policy is another significant component of the program. France Unbowed rejects what it calls the growing “space arms race” and wants to close NATO’s space center in Toulouse. At the same time, it argues that France must develop independent capabilities to protect its sovereignty and strategic interests in space.
In an unusual proposal compared with the platforms of most French political parties, the document calls for France to acquire a space shuttle.
France Unbowed has previously expressed support for developing advanced reusable space vehicles, with party lawmakers advocating procurement of Dassault Aviation’s Vortex, a European reusable orbital spaceplane program spearheaded by the French aerospace manufacturer.
On conventional military capabilities, the party wants France to invest more heavily in so-called critical enablers, including communications systems, intelligence capabilities and military logistics.
These capabilities are considered essential to modern military operations but are currently provided to European forces to a significant extent through the United States and NATO’s integrated structures.
“They must be produced as a matter of priority,” the platform states, arguing that France needs to strengthen its independent defense-industrial and technological capabilities.
The party also proposes nationalizing some of France’s major defense companies, including ArianeGroup, which plays an important role in the country’s aerospace and strategic missile industries.
The nationalization proposal reflects France Unbowed’s broader economic approach, which favors stronger state control over industries considered essential to national sovereignty and public security.
