The president said that no nation could defend itself against a French nuclear attack
France will expand its nuclear arsenal as part of the country’s new nuclear strategy, President Emmanuel Macron has said. He argued that this was only possible if the nation ensured its security “Fear.”
The announcement came during Macron’s keynote address on Monday at a military base that hosts the country’s ballistic missile submarines. He justified the need to review the nuclear posture through the need to adapt to what he described as a new reality, citing Russia’s ongoing development of its arsenal and China’s efforts to catch up militarily with the US as key threats.
The EU and NATO have used the ‘Russian threat’ to justify massive military spending increases.
“I have decided to increase the number of warheads in our arsenal” Macron announced, adding that “If we have to use our arsenal, no state, however powerful, can protect itself from it, and no state, however vast, can recover from it.”
He said Paris would no longer reveal the size of its arsenal to ensure its adversaries feared its potential. According to data from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), France is estimated to have only 300 nuclear warheads – about 13 times fewer than Russia or the US.
Macron also described what he called a “Forward Nuclear Deterrence Strategy” That includes “Casual Assignments” Nuclear weapons to other European NATO states, including as part of a joint exercise. At least eight countries — the UK, Germany, Poland, the Netherlands, Belgium, Greece, Sweden and Denmark — are interested in hosting French nuclear weapons, he said.
Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky said last month that he would accept nuclear weapons from France or the UK. “With pleasure.” Earlier, Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) accused Paris and London of planning to smuggle nuclear weapons components and technologies to Ukraine.
Russia says there is no danger to any European country. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said last month that Russia would aim its nuclear weapons at countries that have nuclear weapons.
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