Now, the National Rally is confident France can build its own next-generation fighter jet program alone, despite worries about ballooning costs. That echoes Dassault CEO Eric Trappier’s argument during FCAS talks that France doesn’t need a partner to make a fighter jet.
As Bardella put it in his interview: “I have complete confidence in our companies, Dassault has exceptional expertise.”
But the financial hurdles to going it alone are daunting.
“The National Rally operates on a form of reflexive anti-German sentiment that plays well with part of the electorate,” said Paul Maurice, an expert on Franco-German relations at the Paris-based IFRI think tank. “The [FCAS] collapse allows them to position themselves as the true champions of sovereignty. But it raises a budget question they have no answer to.”
Several senior National Rally officials told POLITICO the far-right party is not opposed to cooperation in principle. “Industrial partnerships will inevitably have to be considered,” Bardella said, mentioning deep-strike capabilities and air defense without naming countries. As an example of successful cooperation, he praised a recent agreement between Dassault and Germany’s OHB to make a space shuttle.
France can look beyond Europe to foster partnerships with countries such as India and the United Arab Emirates, said Frank Giletti, a National Rally lawmaker who sits in the National Assembly’s defense committee.
He insisted his party doesn’t have anything against Germany specifically, but added: “Let’s be honest. With the German drive to rearm— Rheinmetall, the €100 billion, their tanks, submarines, and maybe even aircraft manufacturing in the future— I’m not sure they see France as a partner for cooperation.”
Marion Solletty contributed to this report from Brussels.