France will increase the size of its nuclear arsenal for the first time in decades and significantly step up nuclear weapons cooperation with eight European allies, including the UK, as part of a “major” strengthening of its deterrence doctrine, Emmanuel Macron has said.
Amid growing concern among European leaders about faltering U.S. commitments to help defend the continent, the French president said Monday that Paris could deploy nuclear-capable Rafale fighter jets to partner countries such as Germany and Poland.
But decision-making on the use of the country’s nuclear weapons will not be shared, he said, and the “final decision” will be the responsibility of the French president and “the definition of (France’s) vital interests” will also remain “sovereign.”
In a speech from the Île Longue nuclear submarine base in Brittany, Macron said a “period of geopolitical turmoil, fraught with risks” meant France, the EU’s only nuclear power, had to strengthen its deterrence “in the face of multiple threats.”
An upgrade to the country’s arsenal was “essential”, Macron said, adding that he had decided to order an increase. France’s estimated 290 nuclear warheads, a figure that has not changed since 1992, constitute the world’s fourth-largest nuclear arsenal, after Russia, the United States and China.
“My responsibility is to ensure that our deterrent maintains – and will maintain in the future – its assured destructive power,” said the French president, commander-in-chief of the country’s armed forces.
He added that France would not stipulate how many nuclear warheads it had in its arsenal or how many it planned to add, and that the increase was necessary to maintain it. “This is not an arms race,” he insisted.
“It is essential that our adversaries, or a combination of adversaries, cannot even envisage the possibility of attacking France without the certainty of suffering damage from which they will not recover.”
Macron cited Russia’s war against Ukraine, which last month entered its fifth year, China’s growing military power and recent changes in the United States’ defense strategy as reasons Europe had to take more direct responsibility for its own security.
Announcing the “gradual implementation of what I would call ‘advanced deterrence,'” Macron said France must now also “consider our deterrence strategy deep within the European continent, with full respect for our sovereignty.”
In unspecified circumstances, French “strategic assets” could be deployed to other European countries, he said, referring to France’s nuclear-capable Rafale jets. Talks on further cooperation have already begun with the United Kingdom, Germany, Poland, the Netherlands, Belgium, Greece, Sweden and Denmark, he added.
The new model would allow France’s strategic deterrence to “spread across the entire European continent” to “complicate the calculations of our adversaries,” Macron said. The doctrine could also involve “the conventional participation of allied forces in our nuclear activities,” he added.
Bruno Tertrais, deputy director of French think tank FRS, said Macron’s speech was “the most significant update to French nuclear deterrence policy in 30 years” and a “major step forward.”
Donald Trump’s rapprochement with Russia over the Ukraine war and his tougher stance toward America’s traditional transatlantic allies have rattled European governments, which have long relied on the United States to deter potential adversaries.
Macron’s long-planned speech was held despite the escalating conflict over Iran because “the violence in the Middle East shows the importance of France’s power and independence in confronting growing threats,” a French official said.
Macron has previously floated a mutualization of France’s nuclear arsenal, including at last month’s Munich Security Conference, where he said a “rearticulation” was necessary to reflect “special cooperation… and common security interests” within Europe.
Earlier this month, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said he had held “initial talks” with Macron on the nuclear issue. France and the United Kingdom also adopted a joint statement in July on the “coordination” of both nations’ nuclear forces.
France and Germany said in a joint statement on Monday after Macron’s speech that they had created a “high-ranking nuclear steering group” as part of an agreement that they said would “augment, not replace, NATO’s nuclear deterrent.”
The two countries said they had “agreed to take the first concrete steps, including German conventional participation in French nuclear exercises and joint visits to strategic sites, as well as the development of conventional capabilities with European partners.”
Poland’s Prime Minister Donald Tusk said in a social media post that he was in talks with Paris and European allies about the French proposals, adding: “We are arming ourselves together with our friends so that our enemies will never dare attack us.”
Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson also confirmed Sweden’s intention to participate in the talks. “Strengthening Europe’s overall defense capability has not been as important since World War II as it is now,” he said.
Kristersson noted that the talks would be held “in dialogue also with the United States” and NATO, which Sweden joined in 2024. “As long as Russia has these weapons and threatens its neighbors, democracies must be able to deter them,” he said.
