France returns to Nato fold

President Nicolas Sarkozy announced yesterday that France would return to the Nato military command and seek a larger role as a full partner of the United States and its other Atlantic allies.

Four decades after General Charles de Gaulle declared France's independence from the command structure, while remaining a political member of the alliance, Mr Sarkozy said the time had come to once more play a leading role.

"A state alone, a solitary nation, is a nation without influence and if we want to count for something we have to know how to bind ourselves to allies and friendships," Sarkozy told a defence seminar in Paris.

"France wants peace, France wants freedom and France also knows who our friends are and who our enemies are. I'm not afraid to say it, our friends and allies are first and foremost the Western family," he said.

Speaking as commander in chief, Mr Sarkozy said France had been moving closer to playing a full role in Nato's missions and committees ever since De Gaulle's decision to withdraw from the command in 1966.

"In ending this long process, France will be stronger and more influential. Why? Because those who are absent are always in the wrong. Because France must be a joint leader rather than submit to others," he said. Mr Sarkozy said France's independent nuclear deterrent would remain outside Nato control, but argued that since the US and Britain have the same policy this does not represent a continued exclusion.

The President and his supporters insist the move will boost France's influence among the Western allies, and allow Paris to promote a common European identity without this being seen as a rival to the US alliance.

Critics counter that Paris will now lose face internationally and be seen as a subordinate to the US.

On a day-to-day military level not much will change. France has long played a major role in Nato operations, fielding troops under allied command in Bosnia, Kosovo and now notably in the dangerous Afghan campaign. But Mr De Gaulle's decision has a powerful symbolic significance for the French, who are traditionally wary of falling under the domination of Washington and value their country's independent foreign policy.