NATO and De Gaulle's Ghost

The April 2009 decision of President Nicolas Sarkozy to return France to the integrated command of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) was vigorously opposed by the left. After his election as president in May 2012, Franc, ois Hollande asked Hubert Vedrine, former minister of foreign affairs, to evaluate the French experience in NATO and to recommend whether or not to remain in the integrated command. In November 2012, Vedrine submitted his recommendation: that a French (re) exit from the integrated military command "is not an option.'' Among his findings: NATO will remain an Alliance around the leading military power in the world, the United States, with which the French "share fundamental values''; the effort of the past 25 years to create a common European defense has been disappointing or merely symbolic; the value of partnering with either the United Kingdom or Germany has been limited; and, for more than 40 years, no European country has joined in the French line of autonomy within NATO. Gaullism cannot be identified with any specific tactic. In seeking to promote French interests within the Alliance, the spirit of Gaullism lives on.