Paris — The eyes of European allies turned to France on Monday as President Emmanuel Macron prepared to update French doctrine on the potential use of nuclear weapons in a key speech from a military base that hosts the country’s ballistic missile submarines.
Macron is expected to outline France’s strategy and outline how French nuclear weapons fit into European security amid concerns raised on the continent by renewed tensions with US President Donald Trump over Ukraine, Greenland and NATO.
The long-planned speech was held despite the growing conflict around Iran, as the current violence in the Middle East shows the importance of France’s power and independence to counter rising threats, according to a French official, speaking on condition of anonymity in line with traditional practices of French presidents.
European leaders have expressed growing doubts about US commitments to help protect Europe under the so-called nuclear umbrella, long intended to ensure that allies – particularly NATO members – are protected by American nuclear forces in the event of a threat.
France is the only nuclear power in the European Union. Macron’s office said the speech, delivered before Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine reshaped the security landscape in Europe, was expected to build on his 2020 speech on nuclear deterrence.
No details were disclosed before the speech.
Some European countries have already taken up Macron’s offer last year to discuss France’s nuclear deterrence and even involve European partners in nuclear exercises.
Earlier this month, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said he had “preliminary talks” on the issue with Macron and publicly theorized that German air force planes could be used to transport French nuclear bombs.
“We need to re-articulate the nuclear deterrent,” Macron said at the Munich Security Council this month. He said France has a “strategic dialogue” with Merz and some other European leaders to see how we can express our national ideology, guaranteed and regulated by the constitution, with special cooperation, common exercises and common security interests.
France and Britain also passed a joint declaration in July that would allow both nations’ nuclear forces to be “coordinated” while independent. The UK, no longer an EU member but a NATO ally, is the only European country with a nuclear deterrent.
Macron has consistently insisted that any decision to use France’s nuclear weapons rests solely in the hands of the French president.
(tags to translate)International Agreements(T)Nuclear Weapons(T)Politics(T)World News(T)General News(T)Article(T)130670132
