- Macron says that “our nuclear deterrence protects us”.
- Decides to open a debate on the protection of European states.
- Recognizes the new administrator of the American administrator.
Paris: French president Emmanuel Macron said he was open to discussing if France’s nuclear arsenal could help protect his European allies because he warned that Europe should take the threat of Russia seriously.
France and Great Britain are only the two nuclear powers of Europe.
“Our nuclear deterrence protects us: it is complete, sovereign, French from start to finish,” said Macron in his televised speech.
“But, responding to the historic call of the future German Chancellor, I decided to open the strategic debate on the protection of our allies on the European continent by our (nuclear) deterrence,” said Macron.
The German Chancellor Pending Friedrich Merz wondered if NATO would remain in its “current form” by June and recommended talks with France and Great Britain to widen their nuclear protection.
France’s nuclear deterrent strategy has so far been defensive and aimed to protect the country’s own vital interests.
In his television speech, Macron also said that France should spend more in defense and would continue to help Ukraine. He recognized the concerns of voters concerning Russia and the new American administration of the international order.
He said he wanted to believe that the United States “will stay by our side”, while adding that Europe should be prepared if it was no longer the case.
“You are, I know, legitimately worried about current events, which disrupt the world order,” Macron told voters.
“Russia has become a threat to France and Europe,” he said, adding that “watching and doing nothing would be madness”.
European countries rush to stimulate defense expenses and maintain Ukraine support after President Donald Trump froze US military aid to kyiv and fueled the doubts of Washington’s commitment to his NATO European Allies.
Nuclear deterrent
Macron also said that he hoped to “convince and dissuade the President of the United States” to impose higher prices on European imports.
At the start of the Cold War, former president Charles de Gaulle developed a means of nuclear deterrence designed to be fully independent of the two dominant powers of the time, the Soviet Union and the United States.
France’s nuclear deterrence is based on air and sea, with burst fighter planes and nuclear submarines capable of knocking at any time, on the instruction of the only French president.
According to the Federation of American Scientists, the United States and Russia now have approximately 88% of the global nuclear weapons inventory. France has around 290 nuclear warheads, while the United Kingdom has 225, he said.
Macron told the Portuguese media this weekend that he could open a debate on nuclear deterrence in France, which the far-right leader Marine Le Pen immediately criticized.
In his television speech, on the eve of a crucial summit in the European Union on Defense, Macron also said that France would spend more in defense – although it did not specify how much. He said there would be no tax increase to finance it, but that difficult choices should be made.
His pressure to increase French defense spending will not be easy because his government has trouble slowing an unruly budget deficit.
Macron’s comments arise while Great Britain and Germany both announce plans for a major increase in defense expenses.
Macron’s address intervenes in the middle of a European diplomacy burst to consolidate Ukraine’s support and repair the links between Washington and kyiv after an acrimonious meeting between Trump and President Volodymyr Zelenskiy in the Oval Office last week.
France and Great Britain aim to finalize a peace plan with Ukraine, perhaps “in a few days”, to present in the United States while working to build bridges between Washington and kyiv before possible interviews in the United States, said diplomats Reuters.
