Nationalize the Ariane rocket, leave NATO, refuse the 5% of GDP for defense, build a space plane... Mélenchon's program for the French army

What does Jean-Luc Mélenchon want to do for the country's defense if he arrives at the Élysée next year? La France insoumise published this Friday, November 6, on the eve of a major meeting in the Paris region, its presidential program for 2027. A document entitled "The future in common", which has more than 220 pages and which includes almost 1.

100 measures, of which 238 are new. The financing of this program must be revealed at the beginning of 2027. All the themes are discussed in broad terms, including defense issues.

The Insoumis remain faithful to “non-alignment”. The party still wishes to organize a withdrawal from NATO and wants to “get France out of Western isolation”. In the event of coming to power, La France insoumise "will reject the tribute, demanded by the United States, of 5% of GDP devoted to defense spending".

At a NATO summit in The Hague in 2025, the member countries of the Atlantic Alliance committed to investing 5% of their GDP in defense and security in 2035 (3.5% for military spending and 1.5% for broader security spending such as the protection of sensitive sites). Today, France devotes a little more than 2% of its GDP to its defense. "Demilitarization of space" But for LFI, France's exit from NATO does not mean that the country will refuse possible military support to European countries.

Treaties on the European Union oblige "France to come to the aid of its allied European partners", underlines the party, basing itself on the EU's mutual defense clause. Jean-Luc Mélenchon clarified during an interview with Politico in September that “leaving NATO does not mean that we abandon the defense of our common borders”. In addition to relations with other countries, the program of La France insoumise outlines the segments of our armies on which the party wants to focus.

Jean-Luc Mélenchon's party wants to "create an army model based on disruptive technologies", citing space, artificial intelligence, cyber and space. In this last area, LFI wants to close the NATO space center in Toulouse, set up "a public satellite hub", pursue a policy of "demilitarization of space" and nationalize ArianeGroup, the manufacturer of the Ariane 6 rocket and M51 nuclear missiles. A strategic company already placed under close supervision of the State, but whose capital today belongs to two private groups, Airbus and Safran, up to 50% each.

The French State is itself a shareholder in these two groups. Since the launch of Sputnik in 1957, the United States and Russia have explored different ways to weaponize satellites and neutralize those of the adversary. In September, the United States publicly confirmed for the first time that it had weapons deployed in orbit.

Machine-translated from French