France is open to extending the protection of its nuclear arsenal to its allies, French President Emmanuel Macron said on Wednesday, warning that Russia is a threat to the continent’s security with U.S. military support no longer guaranteed.
In a televised address to the nation ahead of a special European summit on Thursday, Macron said he had decided “to open the strategic debate on the protection of our allies on the European continent by our (nuclear) deterrent.”
“Our nuclear deterrent protects us: it’s complete, sovereign, French through and through,” Macron said. “But, responding to the historic call of the future German Chancellor, I have decided to open the strategic debate on the protection of our allies on the European continent through our (nuclear) deterrence.”
German Chancellor-in-waiting Friedrich Merz has questioned whether NATO will remain in its “current form” by June and has advocated talks with France and Britain about expanding their nuclear protection.
Macron said that he wanted to believe that the United States “will remain at our side,” while adding that Europe had to be ready if that was no longer the case. “You are, I know, legitimately worried about the current events, which are disrupting the world order,” he said.
“Whether we come to peace now or in the somewhat distant future, Europe needs to be able to better defend itself and to deter other forms of invasion,” Macron added. “Whatever the case may be, we need to arm ourselves more, we need to bolster our defense positions, we need to deter and that is why we uphold NATO and our partnership with the United States of America but we need more, we need to reinforce our own defense and security capabilities.”
Macron said Europe’s future does not have to be decided in Washington or Moscow and insisted that “the innocence of the last 30 years” which followed the 1989 fall of the Berlin Wall, is over.
The French president said Russia is now spending 40 percent of its state budget on the military and plans to expand its army by 2030 with 300,000 additional soldiers, 3,000 tanks, and 300 jet fighters.
“Given this observation, who can believe that today’s Russia will stop at Ukraine?” Macron asked.
Allies must ensure Russia does not invade Ukraine again after a potential peace deal is signed, Macron said. This means providing “long-term support for the Ukrainian army” and possibly deploying European forces, he said. Those forces “would not fight on the front line, but they would be there, on the contrary, once peace has been signed, to guarantee that it is fully respected,” Macron said.
According to the Federation of American Scientists (FAS), the United States and Russia possess about 88 percent of the world’s total nuclear weapons inventory.
The French nuclear deterrent is air- and sea-based, with Rafale fighter jets and nuclear submarines being able to strike at any time, on the instruction of the French president.
EU leaders are set to address the issue of nuclear deterrence, along with support for Ukraine and European defense during Thursday’s summit in Brussels. U.S. President Donald Trump has pushed for Europe to shoulder more responsibility for protecting the continent.
Macron also said he hoped to persuade Trump not to impose tariffs on European imports. Trump has threatened to impose 25 percent tariffs on European goods.
