France is willing to discuss the extension of the protection offered by its nuclear arsenal to its European allies, said President Emmanuel Macron on Wednesday, while the continent climbs to reject the increased Russian aggression and decrease American support.
France and Great Britain are the only two countries in Europe with their nuclear weapons; Only France is in the European Union. Russia and the United States are also nuclear powers.
“Our nuclear deterrent protects us: it is complete, sovereign and French for everything and for everything,” Macron said in a television speech that was mainly dedicated to war in Ukrainian and security in Europe. “Since 1964, he has played an explicit role in preserving peace and security in Europe”.
“I decided to open the strategic debate on protection through deterrence for our allies on the European continent,” added Macron.
In 2020, well before the Russian invasion of Ukraine, he expressed support for a “strategic dialogue” with European partners “on the role played by France nuclear deterrence in our collective security”.
At the time, those ideas had received little traction with the allies of France, many of whom came to rely on American nuclear skills.
Now, however, the decisions of President Trump to abandon the support for Ukraine, withdraw the traditional America’s security blanket in Europe and press the allies to spend more in defense have forced the continent to quickly rethink its security architecture.
In his speech, Mr. Macron painted a clear picture of Europe captured between an unreliable American ally and an increasingly aggressive Russia, which according to him was pouring 40 percent of his state budget in military expenditure.
“Russia has become a threat to France and Europe for the years to come,” he said.
“I want to believe that the United States will remain at our side, but we must be ready if it were no longer so,” said Macron, since he announced that France would have convened a meeting of the European army heads in Paris next week to discuss the possible deployment of peace maintenance troops in Ukrainian after the end of the war.
“Europe’s future should not be decided in Washington or Moscow,” he added.
Macron said that the opening of a debate on nuclear deterrence was “in response to the historical call of the future German Chancellor”-a reference to Friedrich Merz, the center-right politician who is almost sure he is the next German leader.
Merz declared last month that the German authorities had to speak with the French and British counterparts on the extension of their nuclear umbrellas.
“We have a shield; They do not do it, “Macron of the European allies of France said in an interview with Parisien last week.” And they can no longer depend on the American nuclear deterrent. We need a strategic dialogue with those who do not have it and this would make France stronger. “
Macron was speaking before a meeting of European leaders in Brussels Thursday, but his office said that the possibility of extending a nuclear umbrella, which was also raised in Great Britain, should not have been a topic of main discussion.
Macron said that France could collaborate with other countries for joint deterrence exercises, although the exact outlines of what a French or French-British nuclear umbrella for Europe is still confused.
But the idea is controversial for some in France, in which Mr. Macron’s political opponents have defined him an unacceptable violation of French sovereignty.
Marine Le Pen, the French far -right leader, this week told the legislators that Mr. Macron was “undermining our deterrence model”, while Laurent Wauquiez, a best legislator with the conservative party Les Républicains, claimed that “does not share the nuclear button”.
Macron insisted on the fact that France would firmly remain in control of its nuclear weapons and any decision to use them. His allies also argued that French nuclear deterrence had always been designed with a large European element, even if intentionally poorly defined.
“Our nuclear deterrence is French and will remain like this,” said Sébastien Lecornu, French defense minister last week. He said that Mr. Macron was simply following a long series of French presidents, who extends to Charles De Gaulle, who claimed that the country’s vital interests were not limited to their territory.
“So yes, we have to answer the questions of our European partners about what our deterrence is, what can mean for them and what will remain,” said Lecornu.