Mélenchon calls for a parliamentary vote on sending military resources to Saudi Arabia

After the announcement by Emmanuel Macron, Thursday evening on TF1 and France 2, of the sending of “military means” to “protect” the Yanbu site, a strategic link in the network of energy installations in Saudi Arabia, the LFI presidential candidate, Jean-Luc Mélenchon, demanded a vote from Parliament.

The stakes are high: this Red Sea port allows oil to be exported without going through the Strait of Hormuz, while geopolitical tensions in the region have notably propelled fuel prices to record levels. “Troops in Saudi Arabia are setting up in a theater of war. If the base is hit, what will we do? No question of becoming belligerent. So the Assembly must vote on the subject. Article 35 of the Constitution,” wrote l’Insoumis on the social network X.

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The Constitution still needs to impose it. Article 35 does provide for a vote by Parliament, but only for a declaration of war. For an intervention by the armed forces abroad, it requires only simple information: the government must notify both chambers no later than three days after its start, specifying its objectives. If this information can give rise to a debate, it cannot lead to any vote. It is only after four months that the extension of the intervention must be subject to the authorization of Parliament. In other words, nothing obliges the government at this stage to have the deputies vote.