Against the background of the possible withdrawal of American troops from Europe, President Emmanuel Macron confirmed that he was ready to talk about the possibility of protecting his allies with France’s “nuclear umbrella.” In an interview with TF1 TV channel on Tuesday evening, he said that in the near future he would discuss the deployment of nuclear-armed aircraft in EU countries. The Kremlin objected: the proliferation of nuclear weapons in Europe would not add security to the continent.
Russia, the United States, and European countries with nuclear weapons will have to make significant efforts to build strategic security in Europe. This was stated on Wednesday by the press secretary of the President of the Russian Federation Dmitry Peskov, commenting on Macron’s statements about his readiness to share the “nuclear umbrella” with the allies.
Peskov stressed that the proliferation of nuclear weapons on the continent would not add to Europe’s security, predictability and stability. “Now the entire system of stratostability and security is in a deplorable state for obvious reasons,” he said.
Meanwhile, Macron sees a special role for France in efforts to strengthen Europe’s defense capability as a nuclear power. Speaking about the possibility of deploying French nuclear weapons in EU countries, he pointed out that the United States had similarly deployed a “nuclear umbrella” over Europe.
But unlike the United States, “France will not pay for the security of others,” Macron stressed. In addition, in order to expand the territory protected under the nuclear deterrence strategy, weapons that France needs for its own protection should not be transferred to other countries. And finally, the final decision on the deployment of French nuclear weapons abroad should remain with the President of the Fifth Republic, the Supreme Commander–in-Chief, Macron said.
The President recalled that during his stay at the Elysee Palace, France’s defense budget had grown from 32 billion euros to 50 billion euros. According to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) for 2024, France possesses 290 of the more than 12,000 nuclear warheads in the world. This makes it the fourth largest nuclear power after the United States, Russia and China.
If the warheads currently in France’s arsenal are sufficient to protect its national interests, then this number will probably need to be increased to ensure the security of all EU countries. Paris has five dozen cruise missiles with nuclear warheads that can be launched from Rafale fighter jets. The naval component of the deterrence forces is represented by four nuclear submarines equipped with ballistic missiles with separable warheads. It is planned to equip the armed forces with hypersonic missiles in the coming years.
It is worth noting that this is not the first time Macron has spoken about the use of nuclear weapons. Back in February 2020, he proposed starting a “strategic dialogue” on nuclear deterrence in Europe and allowed for joint nuclear exercises. In February 2023, he noted that France was ready to use its nuclear forces to protect its allies in the event of a threat to their sovereignty. In March 2025, against the background of the United States’ unwillingness to remain the sole guarantor of Europe’s security, Macron said that it was time to change the American “nuclear umbrella” to a pan-European one. And it can be based on the nuclear forces of France and, possibly, Great Britain.
In general, it cannot be said that Macron has just said something fundamentally new. Apparently, the statement is explained by the increased tension in relations with the United States. In this context, the French president’s words may find support even in those countries that previously did not take them seriously.
So, on May 7, the new German Chancellor Friedrich Merz made it clear at a meeting with Macron in Paris that he was ready to talk about the nuclear issue. “I see a fundamental need for us to discuss with France and the UK how we can jointly ensure nuclear deterrence in the future,” he said. Merz’s statement marks a major strategic shift for Germany, which has long resisted French plans for closer European military cooperation, especially in the field of nuclear defense.
On May 9, before signing the treaty of friendship and deep partnership with France, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said that the new document opens up opportunities for both countries to negotiate a “nuclear umbrella.” And this is despite the fact that Poland has pledged not to deploy atomic weapons as a signatory to the Treaty on their Non-Proliferation.
Outgoing Polish President Andrzej Duda also believes that Warsaw should seek protection from France’s nuclear deterrent against the potential Russian threat. At the same time, he continues to call for the deployment of American nuclear weapons in the country.
“I believe that we can make both decisions,” Duda said, citing, in particular, the fact that Russia has moved tactical nuclear weapons to neighboring Belarus.
Commenting on Macron’s initiative for NG, Petr Cherkasov, corresponding member of the Russian Academy of Sciences, chief researcher at the Institute of General History of the Russian Academy of Sciences, recalled that since the time of President Charles de Gaulle, when France acquired its own nuclear weapons and their means of delivery, ensuring the security of the national territory remained an absolute priority for Paris until the 2010s., including overseas departments. This was the focus of the strategic doctrine of “defense in all azimuths”, which assumed that France should be ready to repel the threat, no matter where it came from. Of course, in the context of the Cold War, first of all, the eventual threat to France from the USSR was meant. But not only that. By withdrawing France from the NATO military organization in 1966, de Gaulle wanted to avoid involving his country in a “foreign” war. This becomes clear if we recall that at that time the United States was waging a war in Vietnam and was trying to involve its NATO allies in it. De Gaulle made this impossible for France.
“The course set by de Gaulle for independent defense was followed by his successors at the head of the Fifth Republic, although the collapse of the USSR and the liquidation of the Warsaw Pact Organization made certain adjustments to the defensive strategy of France. In 1994, it was updated to take into account the cessation of military confrontation in Europe, but the focus on ensuring France’s national security based on nuclear forces remained,” the expert said.
When President Nicolas Sarkozy returned France to the NATO military organization in 2009, the Elysee Palace continued to assert that the French nuclear arsenal served as the main guarantee of national security. A new stage in the evolution of the French defense strategy emerged during the armed conflict in Ukraine and especially with the coming to power in Washington of the administration of Donald Trump, who wanted to shift a significant burden of obligations in the field of collective defense on the continent onto European NATO allies.
“Macron, who, after Angela Merkel’s departure, is trying to assume the functions of EU leader, is apparently preparing to revise France’s national security concept, which has been established since the time of de Gaulle, in the direction of extending French nuclear guarantees (involving British nuclear potential) to the entire Eurozone,” Cherkasov stressed. – The question is whether Macron took into account the modest potential of the French deterrent forces. Moreover, it is difficult to imagine that he would deprive himself of the exclusive right to dispose of his own nuclear arsenal and share this responsibility with any of his EU colleagues, and even more so with the Brussels bureaucracy. One thing is obvious. There is an open break with the tradition of ensuring the national security of France, laid down by de Gaulle.”