The leader of the far-right French National Rally party and candidate for the position of prime minister Jordan Bardela will respect France’s international defense commitments if he comes to power, he said on Tuesday, eleven days before parliamentary elections.

“I don’t plan to challenge the commitments that France has made at the international level, because there is a question of credibility with our European partners and our NATO allies,” Bardela said at the Eurosatory defense and security exhibition in Villepinte, on the outskirts of Paris.

In 2022, the Marine Le Pen, then campaigning for the presidential election, had declared that he would “abandon” NATO in the name of France’s “independence”.

Today, Jordan Bardela highlighted the “extremely heavy international context” with the war in Ukraine “at the gates of Europe”, while his party for a long time accused of having a friendly attitude towards the Kremlin.

The president of the main far-right party “wishes that Ukraine can have at its disposal ammunition and equipment, all of which” it needs “to keep the front, but my red line will not change” against “the shipment of equipment that could lead to an escalation in eastern Europe,” he said.

“I don’t plan the delivery, specifically, long-range missiles or weapons that could enable Ukraine to hit Russian soil,” Bardella clarified.

“The war economy implemented two years ago by Emmanuel Macron is quite light,” assessed the head of the far-right party. “I intend to continue this effort to rearm the country, in terms of its defense capabilities, the increase in the military budget, the fiscal efforts that have been implemented in recent years and that we have supported.”

The National Coalition is trying to reassure voters ahead of the parliamentary elections on June 30 and July 7, which were announced after the dissolution of the National Assembly decided by French President Emmanuel Macron after the defeat of his camp in the European elections of June 9.