On Tuesday, French President Emmanuel Macron stated that he was willing to talk about the possibility of his nation’s nuclear weapons being used in other parts of Europe. The remarks were made during a Tuesday night interview with French channel TF1.
The United States already has nuclear-armed planes stationed in Europe, Macron pointed out.
“The Americans have the bombs on planes in Belgium, Germany, Italy, Turkey,” Macron stated. “We are ready to open this discussion.” “I will define the framework in a very specific way in the weeks and months to come,” he stated.
What limits did Macron set on nuclear sharing?
Macron made it plain in the interview that there would be restrictions on any extension of France’s nuclear deterrence to other European nations. He emphasised that France, the only nuclear-armed nation in the EU, would not foot the bill for other people’s security and that its own military capabilities must be preserved.
Macron said that the French president will continue to have the final say over how the weapons are used. The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute estimates that France possessed about 280 nuclear weapons in 2024.
These can be dropped from the skies by its military using planes or launched independently from its own submarines. Additionally, Britain possesses 225 nuclear weapons in stockpiles. However, the US provides maintenance for the nation’s Trident nuclear submarine program, which is closely related to the US system. “Concerns about [Trident’s] independence,” the UK research tank Chatham House said, are raised by this.
Berlin and others are open to the French nuclear proposal
Back in March, Marcon suggested that he begin discussions with partners in Europe on how French nuclear weapons may be used to defend Europe. These remarks coincide with worries about the Russian threat to Europe, which has led many European leaders to believe they can no longer count on the US’ nuclear commitment to the continent.
Friedrich Merz, the chancellor of Germany, has also indicated an interest in France deploying nuclear weapons in his nation. At a joint news conference with Macron last week in Paris, he emphasised that this would be “expressly not a substitute for the nuclear guarantee currently being given to Europe by the United States of America.”
Additionally, Merz has previously emphasised that Germany “cannot and must not have its own nuclear weapons.” A German military airfield already has up to 20 US nuclear weapons stationed there. In recent months, Poland, Denmark, and Lithuania have expressed their openness to the concept.
In March, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk declared that Poland and France were “talking seriously” about Poland’s protection against French nuclear weapons. Fears of more Russian aggression after its invasion of Ukraine are strongly related to interest in Eastern Europe, but Macron was cautious not to exacerbate relations with Moscow.
He added in his interview on Tuesday that France does not want to start “World War III” because of Russia’s conflict in Ukraine. “We must help Ukraine defend itself, but we do not want to unleash a Third World War,” Macron stated. “The war must ceas,e and Ukraine must be in the best possible situation to go into negotiations,” he stated.
