The United Kingdom and France have agreed on Thursday for the first time to coordinate the use of their nuclear weapons if they were attacked, the prime minister announced, Keir Starmerand the French president, Emmanuel Macronat the close of its bilateral summit.
Leaders signed the call Northwood statementwhich will make, in case of being attacked, their adversaries know that there will be a “response of the two nations,” Starmer said. For its part, Macron explained that the decision responds to a “markedly more threatening environment” And he has pointed out that both countries cannot imagine a scenario in which an aggression against Europe does not cause a joint reaction from the United Kingdom and France.
“This morning we signed the Northwood statement, confirming for the first time that we will coordinate our independent nuclear deterrence,” said British Prime Minister. “From today, our adversaries will know that any extreme threat to this continent would lead to an answer from our two nations.” In his opinion, that agreement is proof that “There is no greater demonstration of the importance of this relationship” Between the two countries.
“It is really historical. I know that there is much attention in the migratory agreement that we have signed, but the nuclear is equally important, because we are the two nuclear nations in Europe,” Starmer concluded, which stressed the dimension for Europe and NATO of the pact.
Macron has reduced Starmer’s words to ensure that the decision achieved “It does not exclude coordinating our nuclear deterrence”a message addressed to both allied and adversary countries. “Europe has to know that it can have a strategic alliance between France and the United Kingdom,” said the French president.
Likewise, the two countries agreed to create a joint structure, the group of nuclear supplies, to coordinate their cooperation in atomic capacities and operations. “Our two countries are still independent and sovereign, but we have given ourselves the means when necessary to react together to the threatening environment to which we are confronted,” he concluded.
