France will increase its nuclear arsenal and allow other European countries to temporarily deploy its nuclear-armed aircraft, French President Emmanuel Macron has said.
A Martinez, Host:
France has announced it will increase the size of its nuclear arsenal for the first time in decades and intensify nuclear weapons cooperation with eight European allies, including Germany, the UK and Poland. NPR’s Eleanor Beardsley reports that the new strategy comes as Russia becomes more aggressive and the US pulls back from the continent.
(soundbite of archived recording)
PRESIDENT EMMANUEL MACRON: (Speaks French).
ELEANOR BEARDSLEY, BYLINE: Standing in front of a massive nuclear submarine at a base in Brittany, French President Emmanuel Macron announced France’s new forward deterrence doctrine.
(soundbite of archived recording)
MACRON: (Speaking French).
Beardsley: “We need to strengthen our nuclear deterrence in the face of a combination of threats and rethink our strategy with the European continent in mind,” he said. “We live in a time of enormous dangers, which justify the hardening of our model. The gravest threat to Europe,” Macron said, “is Russia’s long and brutal war against Ukraine.”
Doubts over the Trump administration’s commitment to European defense prompted the change. For decades, American nukes have protected the continent. Macron’s speech came as he waged a new war in the Middle East. Apart from Russia, France and Britain are the only European countries with nuclear weapons.
Alain Bauer: It is Europe’s only free and independent nuclear power. The British are also heavily controlled by America.
BEARDSLEY: That’s defense and security expert Alain Bauer.
Bauer: For the first time, we are not reducing our power, but we are expanding it in numbers, in strength, in modernization. And maybe expand it in the way we use it.
BEARDSLEY: Macron said France has consulted with the US and NATO and the measures are compatible with existing arrangements. Joint exercises are due to begin this year, but the French president remains only with his finger on the nuclear button.
Eleanor Beardsley, NPR News, Paris.
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