“A modernization of our arsenal is essential,” said Emmanuel Macron during his visit to the strategic naval base of Île Longue. The president traveled to Brittany escorted by four Rafale model fighters to reach the base where the four French nuclear submarines sleep. His speech on nuclear deterrence generated great expectations in a current international context, but few imagined what he was about to announce.
With a careful and powerful staging in front of one of the base’s strategic nuclear submarines, the president announced that France will increase the number of nuclear warheads without revealing the exact figure, with the aim of “cutting off any type of communication” in a “period of geopolitical rupture.” The French country is currently the the only member state of the European Union that has nuclear weapons, after the departure of the United Kingdom from the bloc in 2020. “We find ourselves in a different strategic landscape, and we must move to a completely different stage and formulate for our time what De Gaulle already intuited. I think I can safely say that our partners are prepared,” he stated.
A decision that marks a before and after in the French defense strategy, although Macron insists that “it is not about entering into any arms race”, but rather about “preventing the proliferation of nuclear weapons on our continent” in the face of “current norms” that are “a field of ruins.” “Our era requires a different approach. This will begin with work on how the stability of our Europe should be organized,” declared the president, inviting the rest of the partners “to join the work begun with the Germans and the British on this issue.”
“Successive presidents have debated the European dimension of France’s vital interests. In February 2020, I reiterated the offer of all my predecessors to dialogue with European countries willing to deepen this dimension. I even proposed involving these countries in our nuclear deterrent,” he recalled.
With this announcement, the French government inaugurates what it describes as “a new stage in French deterrence” defined as “advanced deterrence”, but warns that “the final decision will not be shared,” although it will continue to be “perfectly complementary to NATO.” In this new plan, the country will be able to carry out “circumstantial deployments” of strategic means related to nuclear deterrence among its European allies, citing eight interested European countrieslike Germany, the United Kingdom, Poland, or the Netherlands, who will be able to “participate in said exercises”.
France is determined to take control of the destiny of Europeans and Macron makes it clear that he will “never hesitate” to use the atomic bomb. “The final decision rests exclusively with the President of the Republic,” declared the president amidst the echo of the immensity of the Île Longue naval base. The president’s speech has been a declaration of intentions in a Europe that seeks its place in this new world order. Macron wanted to close his speech with a slogan that summarizes the new French ambition focused on force to deter, cohesion to resist and sovereignty to decide: “Let us be powerful, let us be united, let us be free,” he concluded.
Subscribe to continue reading
