Europe can’t be spectator to nuclear arms race: Macron

PARIS, February 7

French President Emmanuel Macron warned Friday that European nations “cannot remain spectators” faced with a potential nuclear arms race, urging them to push an “international arms control agenda”.

“Europeans must realise collectively that in the absence of a legal framework, they could rapidly face a new race for conventional weapons, even nuclear weapons, on their own soil,” Macron said in a speech laying out France’s post-Brexit strategy for its nuclear arsenal.

He added that France had already reduced its number of warheads to under 300, giving France “the legitimacy to demand concrete moves from other nuclear powers toward global disarmament that is gradual, credible and can be verified”. He offered to open a “strategic dialogue” with willing European partners about the role of French nuclear deterrence policy in continental security, calling for a “surge” in European defence spending and resolve.

The overture to Europeans chimes with Macron’s insistence that Europe should reinforce its strategic autonomy in the face of growing global threats and stop relying solely on the United States and the transatlantic alliance for its defence.

In a much-anticipated speech on French nuclear deterrence, a ritual for every French President under the Fifth Republic, Macron said that European nations who wanted to do so, could be associated with French nuclear deterrence wargames.

“France’s vital interests now have a European dimension,” Macron told the future elite of French armed forces at Paris’ Ecole de Guerre. “European partners who want to do so will be able to be associated to French deterrence forces’ wargames,” he said.

Elysee officials did not elaborate on what form this association could take, but said this did not mean “sharing” French deterrence but “talking about it and deepening Europeans’ joint strategic culture.” — Reuters