European Union nuclear power? French President Emmanuel Macron said he was ready to “open the debate” on a European defense that also includes nuclear weapons, in an interview with young Europeans published on Saturday 27 April by the Ebra newspaper group. «I am in favor of opening this debate, which must include missile defense, long-range weapons, nuclear weapons for those who have them or for those who have American nuclear weapons on their territory. Let’s put everything on the table and look at what really protects us in a credible way”, said the head of state, adding that France will maintain “its specificity but is ready to contribute more to the defense of European soil”.
After Brexit and Britain’s exit from the European Union, France is the only member state to have a nuclear deterrent. In his speech on Europe on Thursday at the Sorbonne, the French president called for a “powerful Europe” and the creation of a “credible” European defense alongside NATO and in the face of Russia, which has become a much bigger threat since the his invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. “This may mean deploying anti-missile shields, but we need to make sure that they block all missiles and discourage the use of nuclear weapons,” Macron explained in the interview published by eastern French newspapers.
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The interview was conducted yesterday during a visit to Strasbourg. «Being credible also means having long-range missiles to discourage the Russians. And then there are nuclear weapons: French doctrine provides that we can use them when our vital interests are threatened. I have already said that there is a European dimension to these vital interests, without going into details, because this deterrent would contribute to the credibility of European defense”, she added. The construction of a European defense system has long been an objective of France, which has often faced the reluctance of its partners, who considered the NATO umbrella to be more secure. But the invasion of Ukraine and the possible return of Donald Trump to the White House are rekindling the debate on European autonomy in defense matters.
