Macron: Wants to discuss European nuclear weapons

Emmanuel Macron

Macron: Wants to discuss European nuclear weapons strategy

Nelly Kronstrand

Updated 19.28 | Published 18.56

          French President Emmanuel Macron. Photo: Ludovic Marin/AP

 

Macron is ready to discuss a European nuclear weapons strategy.

The French president said this on Saturday.

– There has always been a European dimension to France's interests.

According to

Emmanuel Macron

, France can have a significant role when it comes to protecting EU countries from a Russian threat.

The French president hinted at this on the Portuguese channel TV RPT, Reuters reports.

Now he is ready to discuss a European nuclear weapons strategy, Macron says.

– I am open to that discussion if it allows you to build a European force.

Macron continues:

– There has always been a European dimension to France's interests in nuclear doctrine.

Shortly after the president's statement, far-right leader Marine Le Pen commented on the move:

- The French nuclear deterrent must remain French. It must not be shared and even less delegated, she says, the news agency reports.

 

Macron opens up for European nuclear weapons

TT

Published 19.59

Frankrikes president Emmanuel Macron. Arkivbild. Foto: Aurelien Morissard/AP/TT

French President Emmanuel Macron. Archive photo. Photo: Aurelien Morissard/AP/TT

French President Emmanuel Macron is opening up to discussing a common European nuclear weapons strategy if Europe is to become less dependent on the United States.

- I am ready to initiate such a discussion, if it allows the creation of a European force, he says in an interview with the Portuguese television channel RTP, according to Reuters.

Macron adds that there has always been a "European dimension" to France's nuclear weapons doctrine.

The statement comes after Germany's election winner Friedrich Merz proposed a European nuclear umbrella in which Europe's two nuclear powers – France and the UK – would "share".

French Defense Minister Sebastien Lecornu clarified after Macron's interview that France's nuclear capabilities will remain French.

"That's how it will remain: from the design and production of our weapons to their implementation, which is decided by the President of the Republic," he wrote on X.