Army and politics: a French paradox

Solange Bied-Charreton is a writer and journalist.

His latest book published:

Paris sous la terre

Chestnut of relations between politicians and soldiers, this duty of reserve was again highlighted last spring by the affair of the "generals' gallery".

This forum, signed by a thousand soldiers, including around twenty former generals, was first published on the

blog , then taken up on the

April 20, 2021. Reviving the memory of the Putsch of the generals of Algiers of April 1961, even if the reference had been disputed by its authors, it had worried the executive.

The call to order from Florence Parly, Minister of the Armed Forces, evoking "sanctions" taken against active soldiers, pointed to the binding nature of their status, despite the relaxation introduced by the new general status of 2005 From article 4, this law (n 2005-270) evokes

, which is found in article L.4121-2 of the Defense Code.

Article L.4121-3 even states that serving soldiers must be careful not to

, although they may otherwise be candidates for election.

As for the general principle, it can be seen that it can give free rein to interpretation:

.

A jurisprudential Pandora's box.

No legal text ratifies the legal concept of “duty of discretion” applying to civil servants.

Solange Bied Charreton

First, because no legal text ratifies the legal concept of “duty of discretion” applying to civil servants. We just note that, for the military, the emphasis will be on loyalty and the defense of the country's interests. That General Bertrand de la Chesnais would not consider that his commitment to the candidate Zemmour is strongly linked to it? He, who left active service in 2017 to create a strategy consulting company, had already run for mayor of Carpentras without a label in the 2020 municipal elections. He had, moreover, shown his support for the list RN led by Thierry Mariani in PACA in the regional elections of 2021, without being worried by the ministry. Everything suggests that his rallying to Éric Zemmour, fromfirst as adviser in charge of defense then as campaign manager is not to the taste of macronie. The spokesman for the Ministry of the Armed Forces, Hervé Granjean, may well recall that the injunction issued to Bertrand de la Chesnais to retire is

by justifying:

, the duty of reserve as such is a fruit of case law.

Consecutively, it authorizes a wide margin of appreciation which cannot be denied.

More than the duty of reserve, it is the expression "retirement" that questions us.

After years of service, a general officer finds himself in the 2nd section.

Getting out (being out) is a disciplinary sanction – the one, for example, that was imposed on the 2S generals who signed the spring 2021 forum, in the name of the violation of this duty, of their commitment to politics.

We remember, however, General Philippe Morillon, commanding the armed forces of the UN and entering Srebrenica (Bosnia-Herzegovina) in March 1993 after the massacre.

From 1997, he got involved in civil life, first as part of the World Youth Days in Paris, then as an elected UDF member of the European Parliament from 1999 to 2004. A political position that did not bother anybody.

More historically, more fundamentally, who imagines for a single moment General de Gaulle, then an active soldier, renouncing to launch his call for resistance in June 1940 in the name of the duty of reserve?

Solange Bied Charreton

More historically, more fundamentally, who imagines for a single moment General de Gaulle, then an active soldier, renouncing to launch his call for resistance in June 1940 in the name of the duty of reserve?

, this rhetorical turn, an antiphon initiated by François Fillon and since worn out, allows us at the very least to highlight the remarkably political character of the warning of the Ministry of Defense against General de La Chesnais .

Let us question, again, the situation of 1958, that of the General's return to power: De Gaulle retired in 1952 and we are no longer at war.

What penalties for him?

If it is not a question of comparing the campaign manager of the Reconquête candidate to the man of the Resistance, the rigor of the option chosen by the power towards La Chesnais is that of a conception of the duty of reserve which strikes by the narrowness of its interpretation.

Read also Presidential 2022: Éric Zemmour accuses the government of a “coup” against his campaign manager

imposed on the CEMA Pierre de Villiers in the summer of 2017 or, through his majority, called La Chesnais to order for his participation in the presidential campaign.

It is the position of a general vis-a-vis his subordinates.

But in reality, the French Republic never grew far from the Grande Muette.

When he published

in 1964, François Mitterrand pointed out the danger of confusion between legitimacy and legality emanating from the figure of De Gaulle.

Misguided by Marshal Pétain, this Republic was re-established by a general... the leading roles, equivalent to those of ministers, that they played there.