ALMOST 40 years after his death, Gen. Charles de Gaulle still makes his presence felt in France, with the main Paris airport, countless avenues and even the nation’s biggest aircraft carrier all named after him. But in the political arena, his influence is fading fast. Since taking office in 2007, President Nicolas Sarkozy has unexpectedly diluted de Gaulle’s legacy and there are no heavyweight “Gaullist” politicians left to defend the faith. A parliamentary vote of confidence on Tuesday to approve a French return to NATO’s military command marked perhaps the most symbolic break with de Gaulle’s inheritance, bringing France firmly back to the Atlanticist fold after 43 years of self-imposed isolation.
Sarkozy, who has pronounced pro-American views, has concluded that France’s interests are no longer best served by continuing a half-hearted relationship with Washington.
“De Gaulle no longer carries much clout in French politics. His time is finally past,” said Paul Godt, a professor of politics at the American University in Paris.
De Gaulle was the towering figure of 20th century French history, leading the nation’s resistance to Nazi occupation during World War II and putting an end to its bloody colonial war in Algeria in 1962. He founded France’s Fifth Republic, giving the president’s office enormous powers, and crafted a distinctive foreign policy that rejected the concept of US and Soviet world domination, giving the French an independent voice on the world stage. His decision to quit NATO’s inner circle, taken in the midst of the Cold War, was the culmination of years of Franco-American rivalry and helped form France’s postwar image of itself. With the tensions of the 1960s now largely superseded, Sarkozy’s decision to return to the heart of NATO may seem an obvious step to outsiders, especially given that France is heavily involved in most of the alliance’s military missions.
But in a sign that de Gaulle still casts a long shadow across the domestic landscape, the move has elicited fierce debate at home, with politicians across the spectrum accusing Sarkozy of selling out French interests.
“They are throwing our heritage into the stinging nettles,” said Francois Bayrou, head of the centrist Modem party who came third in the 2007 presidential election.
The woman who came second, Socialist politician Segolene Royal, was equally critical. “Gen. de Gaulle saw the significance of serving as a bridge between the East and the West ... Times have changed but this role is as relevant as ever,” she wrote in a blog.
While Gaullist-inspired skepticism over relations with Washington is deeply entrenched in the political elite, the French people appear more open minded and two recent opinion polls have showed a clear majority back Sarkozy’s NATO move.
The arrival of Barack Obama has helped Sarkozy make the break from de Gaulle and place a once recalcitrant Paris firmly in the Washington camp. “Sarkozy has an historic opportunity here because he is doing this during the honeymoon period between Barack Obama and France,” said Pascal Boniface, director of the Paris-based Institute of International and Strategic Relations.
The NATO move followed another splintering of de Gaulle’s legacy when Sarkozy oversaw a recent reform of the Fifth Republic, strengthening Parliament’s powers and pegging back the president’s ability to decide overseas military operations.
Sarkozy’s UMP party is the successor to the Gaullist RPR party and his supporters insist that far from riding roughshod over the memory of the revered general, he is actually following in his footsteps and continuing his tradition of innovation.
