Upon arrival in Paris on 6 November, Senior Course 135 was welcomed to the École militaire by the French Chief of Defence, General François Gérard Marie Lecointre.
On 7 November the Senior Course visited the Senate. The first speaker was Mr Jean-Marie Bockel, Senator for the Haut-Rhin department, who is a member of the Foreign Affairs, Defence and Armed Forces Commission and of the French delegation to the NATO Parliamentary Council. After a guided tour of the Senate, there was a briefing by Mr Gilbert Roger, Senator for Seine-Saint-Denis and Deputy President of the Foreign Affairs, Defence and Armed Forces Commission, who is also a member of the French delegation to the NATO Parliamentary Council. Both briefings were followed by a Q&A session.
In the afternoon the Senior Course visited the Ministry of Defence. Welcome remarks were provided by General Luc de Rancourt, Deputy Director General of International Relations and Strategy. The group was then briefed by Captain (N) Geoffroy Roussel, who spoke about France’s role in NATO and strategic tenets of French defence, with nuclear deterrence as the cornerstone.
Finally, Colonel François Pinczon du Sel gave a briefing on current French operations worldwide, talking about the decision-making process and organizational aspects. As in the morning, the briefings were followed by a Q&A session.
On 8 November the Senior Course visited the Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs for a briefing on the French vision of NATO and multilateralism. The speaker was Mr Florian Escudier, Director of Strategic Affairs and Disarmament. He spoke about a number of security threats and identified three pillars of national security: NATO, EU and partnerships.
A second briefing was provided by Mr Gurvan Le Bras, Deputy Director of the Centre for Analysis, Forecasts and Strategy, who further developed the theme of multilateralism.
One point covered in the concluding Q&A was President Macron’s recent criticism of NATO in an interview with The Economist.
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