“This expression is exceptionally serious, because here we touch the very nerve of French sovereignty,” he told “Grand Rendez-Vous Europe1/CNews/Les Echos”, while the National Rally ( RN) and, on the left, France Insoumise (LFI) have also increased their criticism.
In an interview given on Friday to young Europeans and published on Saturday by the regional newspapers of the Ebra group (East-Bourgogne-Rhône-Alpes), Mr. Macron returned to this recurring and extremely sensitive theme of European security.
How Emmanuel Macron proposes to save Europe “from death”
“I am in favor of opening this debate which must therefore include anti-missile defense, long-range weapon firing, nuclear weapons for those who have them or who have American nuclear weapons on their soil. Let’s put everything on the table and let’s look at what really protects us in a credible way”, he declared, adding that France would keep “its specificity but is ready to contribute more to the defense of European soil”.
Since Brexit and the United Kingdom’s exit from the European Union, France is the only one of its member states to have nuclear deterrence. However, the dialogue on security issues continues with London, particularly within the European Political Community (EPC), a newly created forum at the initiative of the French president.
During a speech on Europe on Thursday at the Sorbonne, Mr. Macron pleaded for a “powerful Europe” and the creation of a “credible” defense Europe alongside NATO and facing the Russia, which has become much more threatening since its invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
The atom “cannot be shared”
“It can mean deploying anti-missile shields, but we must be sure that they block all missiles and deter the use of nuclear power,” explained Mr. Macron in his interview with the Ebra group’s newspapers.
“Being credible also means having long-range missiles which would deter the Russians. And there is nuclear weapons: the French doctrine is that we can use them when our vital interests are threatened. I have already says that there is a European dimension to these vital interests,” he underlined.
In his speech at the Sorbonne, Mr. Macron had already addressed this question of French nuclear weapons.
“Nuclear deterrence is in fact at the heart of the French defense strategy. It is therefore in essence an essential element in the defense of the European continent,” he said, repeating aspects of a speech on deterrence delivered in February 2020.
Like the right, LFI estimated on Sunday, in a press release from its parliamentary group, that Mr. Macron “has just dealt a new blow to the credibility of French nuclear deterrence”.
This “cannot be shared” and “under the cover of defending European soil, Macron wants to liquidate French strategic autonomy”, criticized LFI deputy Bastien Lachaud, specialist in defense issues, on X.
On the far right, RN MEP Thierry Mariani affirmed, also on X, that “Macron is becoming a national danger”. “After nuclear weapons, there will follow France’s permanent seat on the UN Security Council, which will also be sold off to the European Union,” he protested.
At the antipodes, the head of the list of Ecologists in the European elections Marie Toussaint, in favor of a “European federal leap”, considered that this meant the “sharing of this force which is the French weapon, therefore nuclear power too”.
The construction of a defense Europe has been an objective of France for a very long time, but it has often encountered reluctance from its partners who considered the NATO umbrella more secure.
The invasion of Ukraine and the possible return to the White House of Donald Trump have, however, revived the relevance of the debate on European autonomy in matters of defense.
