Key facts
- France Unbowed's platform calls for immediate withdrawal from NATO's integrated command, then staged exit from the organization.
- The platform rejects a US demand that allies devote 5% of GDP to defense spending.
- France Unbowed pledges to nationalize main defense companies including ArianeGroup.
- The party says France would still assist EU countries under EU treaties.
- France Unbowed pledges to close NATO's space center in Toulouse and to acquire a space shuttle.
- A France Unbowed lawmaker said a more detailed defense platform would be released later.
France Unbowed, the party of far-left presidential hopeful Jean-Luc Mélenchon, set out leaving NATO and nationalizing defense companies in its official platform released on November 6, 2026, POLITICO reported.
The 222-page program calls for France to "immediately withdraw from NATO's integrated command and then, in stages, from the organization itself," and to reject "the tribute demanded by the United States of 5% of GDP devoted to defense spending." France under Mélenchon would still provide assistance to European Union countries under EU treaties, the document added.
An increasing number of polls place Mélenchon in second place in next year's election to replace President Emmanuel Macron, according to POLITICO. The top two vote-getters go on to a second round, which could see Mélenchon facing far-right leader Marine Le Pen, who also pledges to take France out of NATO's integrated command.
Unlike Le Pen's party, France Unbowed does not explicitly say it would stop providing assistance to Ukraine, but it insists on the need for a diplomatic solution. Any peace agreement would need to lean on "collective security guarantees, between the belligerents and with the rest of Europe," the platform said.
France Unbowed wants more arms regulation, including of lethal autonomous weapons systems and nuclear weapons. It is also pushing back against the "space arms race," pledging to close NATO's space center in Toulouse while saying France should have the means to guarantee its sovereignty.
The party argues France should acquire a space shuttle, and France Unbowed lawmakers have previously pushed for France to procure Dassault Aviation's Vortex, a European reusable orbital spaceplane program spearheaded by the French aerospace manufacturer, POLITICO reported. The party also says France should invest more in critical enablers such as communications, intelligence and logistics, which it says are currently mostly provided by the US via NATO.
A more detailed platform specifically on defense will be released later, a France Unbowed lawmaker told POLITICO.