Relations between France and NATO, the subject on Monday of a IHEDN strategic debateThese relations have not always been easy, although they have never led to a break-up. One of the twelve founding member states in 1949 (32 are members today), it withdrew from the integrated military command in 1966.
In the meantime, France was home to the organisation's headquarters (in Paris, in what is now the Dauphine University building), the Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe (SHAPE, in Louveciennes) and the Central Europe Theatre Command (in Fontainebleau), as well as numerous American and Canadian bases.
Since its return to the integrated military command in 2009, France has logically regained a more prominent place in the alliance's decision-making bodies.
THE 1949 SIGNATORIES: ROBERT SCHUMAN AND HENRI BONNET
One of the two French "fathers" of the European Union (along with Jean Monnet), Robert Schuman was also the father of NATO, as a signatory of the Atlantic Alliance Treaty on 4 April 1949 in Washington. As Foreign Minister after Georges Bidault, he took over the negotiations led by the latter, who was in favour of the presence of American troops in Europe. On the day the treaty was signed, Schuman summed up France's objectives in his speech: "France's sole concern is to make it impossible to invade its own territory or the territory of peace-loving nations".
But in the Fourth Republic, where governments generally fell after a few weeks, the role of the other French signatory, the French ambassador in Washington, was crucial.
Henri Bonnet held the post for more than ten years, from autumn 1944 to the end of 1954 (a record for longevity that still stands today). He negotiated a number of important issues, such as the creation of the UN at the San Francisco Conference and the Marshall Plan. And, of course, the Atlantic Alliance Treaty. A signatory with Schuman on 4 April 1949, he stood just behind US President Harry Truman in the Oval Office of the White House on 23 August, among the diplomats of the founding countries, when the latter proclaimed the entry into force of NATO.
During this brief ceremony, the French plenipotentiary stated: "I wish to emphasise once again my government's conviction that the entry into force of the North Atlantic Treaty and the implementation of its clauses must mark a decisive step towards the organisation of security.
THE FIRST HIGH-RANKING MILITARY OFFICER: MARSHAL JUNE
In the early decades of NATO, the United States gave France a major place in the Alliance, making it - on paper - one of the three leading countries along with the United Kingdom. In addition to the geographical installations mentioned above, the most crucial command in this period of the Cold War, the headquarters of the allied forces in Central Europe, was entrusted to a Frenchman.
The first incumbent was a hero of the Second World War. From 1951 onwards, General Alphonse Juin was Commander-in-Chief of NATO's land forces in Europe under the authority of the American General Dwight D. Eisenhower, former Commander-in-Chief of the Allied Forces on the continent at the end of the war and the first head of the Supreme Allied Command Europe (SHAPE). In 1953, NATO reorganised its structure and appointed Juin, who had in the meantime been raised to the dignity of Marshal of France, as head of AFCENT, the Central European Command.
At that time, the trio of countries leading NATO was unbalanced in favour of the Anglo-Saxons: the Americans held 7 commands and the British 5 subordinate commands. As a result, the only command allocated to the French was the largest of all after SHAPE (still held by an American).
Juin was the last Marshal of France to be appointed during his lifetime, but he always had a free word to say about Charles de Gaulle, his classmate at Saint-Cyr, whom he was on first-name terms. In 1959, when the hero of Free France had been President of the Republic for less than a year, the 7-star warned de Gaulle at a conference in Vichy to mark the 10th anniversary of the French Revolution.th anniversary of NATO: "As far as our security is concerned, it is important that we remain firmly attached to the Atlantic organisation [...], limiting its ambition in military terms to the maintenance of a fair balance of forces placed under a common control that is not a deception. This is exactly the balance on which the security of our old Western world rests today, always at the mercy of an insane outburst by one man or one people. This is what we need to pay close attention to if we are to avoid the sudden return of desperate times.
We shall see that De Gaulle, with whom Juin would break the following year over the Algerian question, would take an apparently different position.
PIERRE MESSMER, NATO'S TIGER
Pierre Messmer, De Gaulle's Minister for the Armed Forces, nicknamed "the Tiger" after Georges Clemenceau? It is possible when we look at the cultural history of NATO. Occupying the Hôtel de Brienne from 1960 to 1969, Messmer wanted to strengthen cohesion between the various military units of the Alliance countries. In 1961, he pushed for the creation of an association still active todaynamed Association of Tiger Squadronsor NATO Tiger Association.
Bringing together units from member countries, it aims to encourage the sharing of experience, improve interoperability and strengthen solidarity and team spirit. Any unit equipped with aircraft or helicopters can take part. Each year Tiger Meets take place and are the occasion for joint exercises.
The 2024 event is being held in Germany these days (from 3 to 13 June), with flights by units representing the three French armed forces: the Landivisiau naval air base (Rafale Marine), the Étain-Rouvres air base of the French army's light aviation (SA-342M Gazelle, EC-665 Tigre HAP and NH90 helicopters), and the Mont-de-Marsan air base 118 (Rafale B and C).
CHARLES AILLERET: FOR DE GAULLE, FRENCH STRATEGIC AUTONOMY
Even before he was elected President of the Republic at the end of 1958, Charles de Gaulle, President of the Council, forcefully stated at a meeting on 17 June that year: "Our place in the organisation of NATO must be reconsidered. The Americans have an overwhelming preponderance in the organisation of commands. We are completely left out of the plans". On 11 March 1959, he decided to withdraw the French Mediterranean squadron from the Allied integrated naval command, and then asked the Americans to redeploy their nuclear-armed air squadrons outside France. On 3 November of the same year, in a speech in the Rotunda of the École Militaire, he stressed the need for "the defence of France to be French". In 1962, the Atlantic and Channel fleets also left NATO command.
On 16 July 1962, he appointed General Charles Ailleret, who had opposed the generals' putsch in Algiers the previous year and had announced the ceasefire on 19 March 1962, as his army chief of staff. De Gaulle entrusted him with the task of organising France's effective withdrawal from NATO's integrated command, which he had been planning for some time. General Ailleret was a theoretician of French strategic autonomy, and in particular of the nuclear issue, which lay at the heart of De Gaulle's decision. France's nuclear weapon became operational around the same time.
In September 1965, de Gaulle announced that "by 1969 at the latest, the subordination qualified as integration, which is provided for by NATO and which places our destiny in the hands of foreign authority, will cease". The choice of this year was no accident: in 1949, the treaty had been signed for 20 years. In 1967, the withdrawal was announced and the American bases in France were evacuated. France regained its decision-making autonomy.
But this did not mean it left NATO: signed in August 1967, the Ailleret-Lemnitzer agreement allowed France to intervene within NATO while retaining command of its troops.
GISCARD, MITTERRAND, CHIRAC THEN SARKOZY: A GRADUAL RETURN TO THE HEART OF THE MACHINE
Throughout its subsequent presidencies, France will continue to assert its Atlantic membership in various ways. This was summed up by François Fillon, Prime Minister under President Nicolas Sarkozy, in his speech to the National Assembly announcing France's return to NATO's integrated military command on 11 February 2009. In it, he set out the outlines of France's strategic autonomy:
"However, this autonomy was never intended as a sign of neutrality or defiance towards the Atlantic Alliance, of which we have always remained a member. In fact, as soon as we decided to withdraw, we confirmed our desire to continue working with NATO in several agreements - the Ailleret-Lemnitzer agreement in 1967 and the Valentin-Ferber agreement in 1974. In 1983, an Atlantic Council was held in Paris for the first time since 1966. In 1991, France took part in drafting the Alliance's new Strategic Concept. In the 1990s, we were involved in all the operations in Bosnia, where France took part in a NATO operation for the first time. In 1993, again on the decision of François Mitterrand, the French Chief of Defence Staff was authorised for the first time to speak on peacekeeping issues at NATO's Military Committee. From 1994, he was authorised to speak on the adaptation of Alliance structures, cooperation with Eastern Europe and non-proliferation. In 2004, more than a hundred French nationals were assigned to the Mons and Norfolk commands. Today, our troops are engaged with NATO in Kosovo and Afghanistan. We are the fourth-largest contributor to NATO in terms of forces and we are present on virtually all NATO committees.
TODAY, A GENERAL AND A CIVILIAN HIGH UP IN THE HIERARCHY
Since its return in 2009, France has once again occupied one of the highest positions in NATO's military hierarchy, as it did in the days of Marshal Juin. Under the aegis of the Military Committee (currently chaired by a Dutch admiral), two Supreme Allied Strategic Commands make up NATO's main active military directorates.
The one in charge of operations (SACO) is always headed by an American. The other, in charge of transformation (SACT) and based in Norfolk in the United States, is reserved for a Frenchman. Since 2021, this has been the Air Force General Philippe Lavignewho was previously the Air Force's first Chief of Staff. and Space.
The other highest-ranking Frenchman in the NATO hierarchy is currently a Frenchwoman: since September 2023, Marie-Doha Besancenot is Deputy Secretary General for Public Diplomacy, one of eight officials at this rank, behind Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg and his right-hand man, Mircea Geoană.
In addition to these two senior French officials, other military and civilian personnel also hold important positions. Visit Lieutenant General Hubert Cottereau firstly, no. 4 (vice-chief of staff) of the CESO. The Lieutenant General Jean-Pierre Perrin is Chief of Staff (No. 3 in the hierarchy) of the Standing Joint Force Command (JFC) in Brunssum (Netherlands), subordinate to the SACO. In the other JFC, Naples, the Rear-Admiral Jean-Emmanuel Roux de Luze is Deputy Chief of Staff for Operations (fourth in the hierarchy).
In addition, at NATO headquarters in Brussels, the Major General François-Marie Gougeon is Director of the Policy and Capabilities Division of the General Staff. Last but not least François Gautier (a civilian who graduated from Saint-Cyr), Head of Internal Control, also based at the Brussels head office.
