Incumbent President Macron has previously questioned NATO’s effectiveness in the wake of Trump’s presidency and Turkey’s military involvement in Syria, describing the alliance as experiencing a “brain death” in 2019.

However, he has recently been more supportive of NATO’s work, telling reporters: “I think NATO just experienced an electroshock.”

He also suggested the alliance could be evolving and becoming stronger.

His far-right challenger Ms Le Pen has long been seen as an ally of Putin and openly attacked NATO’s founding principles days before Russia invaded Ukraine.

While she has condemned the invasion, she has still vowed to shake up the organisation if she is elected President and has called for NATO to focus more on fighting Islamist extremism.

At a press conference on Wednesday Ms Le Pen said: “As soon as the Russian-Ukrainian war is over and has been settled by a peace treaty, I will call for the implementation of a strategic rapprochement between NATO and Russia.”

Foreign policy analyst Nile Gardiner slammed both the presidential candidates on Twitter.

He wrote: “Dangerous talk on NATO from both of France’s presidential contenders, each with platforms that would undermine the future of the NATO alliance. France is in a terrible state.”

According to polls NATO remains popular with the French public but has been a contentious issue for the country’s politicians, reported The Washington Post.

President Macron and Ms Le Pen will go head to head for the presidency on April 24, with many expecting it to be a tight race.

Mr Macron is currently leading with 53 percent of the votes compared with Ms Le Pen’s 47 percent.

There are fears among President Macron’s centrist supporters that he may only win by four to six percentage points.

This is far less than his 30 point percentage lead against Ms Le Pen in 2017, which saw him win the election comfortably.

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