By Ingrid Melander and Michel Rose
PARIS (Reuters) -France is open to discussing extending the protection offered by its nuclear arsenal to its European partners, President Emmanuel Macron said in a grave address to the nation on Wednesday, in which he warned that Europe must face up to the threat from Russia.
France and Britain are Europe’s only two nuclear powers.
“Our nuclear deterrent protects us: it’s complete, sovereign, French through and through,” Macron said on Wednesday in his televised speech.
“But, responding to the historic call of the future German Chancellor, I have decided to open the strategic debate on the protection of our allies on the European continent through our (nuclear) deterrence,” Macron said.
German Chancellor-in-waiting Friedrich Merz has questioned whether NATO would remain in its “current form” by June and advocated talks with France and Britain about an expansion of their nuclear protection.
France’s nuclear deterrence strategy has hitherto been defensive and meant to protect the country’s own vital interests.
In his televised speech, Macron also said France would have to spend more on defence and would continue to help Ukraine. He acknowledged voters’ concerns over Russia and over the new U.S. administration’s upending of the international order.
He said that he wanted to believe that the United States “will remain at our side,” while adding that Europe had to be ready if that was no longer the case.
“You are, I know, legitimately worried about the current events, which are disrupting the world order,” Macron told voters.
“Russia has become a threat for France and Europe,” he said, adding that “to watch and do nothing would be madness.”
European countries are scrambling to boost defence spending and maintain support for Ukraine after President Donald Trump froze U.S. military aid to Kyiv and fuelled doubts about Washington’s commitment to its European NATO allies.
NUCLEAR DETERRENT
Macron also said he was hoping “to convince and dissuade the President of the United States” not to slap higher tariffs on European imports.
In the early days of the Cold War, former President Charles de Gaulle developed a nuclear deterrent that was designed to be fully independent from the two dominant powers of the time, the Soviet Union and the United States.
France’s nuclear deterrent is air- and sea-based, with Rafale fighter jets and nuclear submarines being able to strike at any time, on the instruction of the French president alone.
According to the Federation of American Scientists, the United States and Russia now possess approximately 88 percent of the world’s total inventory of nuclear weapons. France has an estimated 290 nuclear warheads and the United Kingdom 225, it says.
Macron had told Portuguese media at the weekend that he could open a debate on France’s nuclear deterrence, which far-right leader Marine Le Pen had immediately criticised.
In his televised address on the eve of a crucial European Union summit on defence, Macron also said France would spend more on defence – though he did not say how much more. He said there would be no tax increases to finance that, but tough choices would have to be made.
His push to beef up French defence spending will not be easy as his government struggles to tame an unruly budget deficit.
Macron’s comments come on the back of Britain and Germany both announcing plans for major increases in defence spending.
Macron’s address comes amid a flurry of European diplomacy to shore up support for Ukraine and try to mend ties between Washington and Kyiv after an acrimonious meeting between Trump and President Volodymyr Zelenskiy in the Oval Office last week.
France and Britain are aiming to finalise with Ukraine, possibly “in days”, a peace plan to present to the United States, while building bridges between the U.S. and Ukraine before possible talks in Washington, diplomats have told Reuters.
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(Reporting by Geert De Clercq, Benoit Van Overstraeten, Michel Rose, Elizabeth Pineau, Richard Lough, Makini Brice, Dominique Vidalon; Writing by Ingrid Melander; Editing by Gareth Jones, Nick Zieminski and Sandra Maler)
