His hand wouldn’t shake. The French president, Emmanuel Macron, assured this Monday that he will have no hesitation in using the country’s nuclear power in the event of a threat to the country. He also offered to share the French nuclear deterrent with its European partners.
The setting from which he said it has not been coincidental; The president gave a speech from the base of the French atomic submarines, in L’île Longue. , which began this Saturday with the attack by the United States and Israel on Iran is the backdrop, to which is added a context of international tensions, with the Russian threat or the increase in the Chinese arsenal.
“Our country has this unusual weapon that is the basis of our defense. The ultimate decision to use it is the president’s. I will not hesitate to make the decision that is essential to the protection of our vital interests,” he stated emphatically.
“If we had to use nuclear weapons, no State would be saved. Each of our submarines has a power equivalent to all the bombs that fell on Europe in the Second World War, a thousand times greater than the first atomic bombs,” he added.
More nuclear warheads and an ‘invincible’ submarine
During his speech, Macron announced a reinforcement of his country’s nuclear capacity “up to the national and European challenge” in the face of a world that is “hardening.”
Thus, he noted that the country will increase the number of its nuclear warheads, the number of which will no longer be revealed, as well as the construction of a new nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarine, which will be called El Invencible and will be launched in 2036.
Macron, during his speech this Monday.
“It is essential to modernize our nuclear arsenal,” he stressed.
“Advanced deterrence”
The president has assured that the United Kingdom, Germany, Poland, the Netherlands, Belgium, Greece, Sweden and Denmark are already collaborating with France on “advanced deterrence”, which includes attack detection infrastructure and has opened the door for other countries to join. He also noted that several countries will participate in joint exercises with France.
For Macron, this new advanced deterrence at the European level “will be compatible” with that of NATO, which currently protects the Old Continent.
France and the United Kingdom are the only two countries in Western Europe with their own nuclear arsenal, which they both developed during the Cold War in order to maintain their own deterrence independent of that of the United States.
Paris, Berlin and London, ready to attack
This Sunday, France, the United Kingdom and Germany (the so-called E3 bloc) had already announced that they will consider taking measures to destroy Iran’s ability to launch missiles and drones, to defend their interests and those of their allies in the Middle East and that they will collaborate with the United States on this issue.
The leaders of the three Macron countries (Macron, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer) condemned the “indiscriminate and disproportionate” missile attacks launched by Tehran at other countries.
“Iran’s reckless attacks have targeted our close allies and are threatening our military personnel and civilians throughout the region. We urge Iran to immediately end these reckless attacks,” they stressed.
