Germany is to take part in a French nuclear exercise later this year in the latest sign Emmanuel Macron is prepared to extend his country’s deterrent to other European nations.
Speaking alongside the French president near Cologne on Friday, Friedrich Merz, the German chancellor, said a “strategic steering group” created by the two countries would consider how to strengthen their shared deterrence.
“Alongside this work on a shared doctrine, German conventional forces will this year take part in a nuclear exercise of the French military,” he said.
“This is complementary to our nuclear participation and deterrence within Nato, which we still hold to.”
The announcement was the most concrete result of a summit intended to salvage a Franco-German relationship badly damaged by the collapse of their flagship joint fighter jet project, the Future Combat Air System (FCAS).
FCAS was dropped last month after years of disputes between France’s Dassault Aviation and the German arm of Airbus over leadership, technology and how the work would be shared.
Germany’s defence budget has risen from about €56bn (£48bn) before Russia invaded Ukraine to more than €100bn this year, but Franco-German weapons programmes are faltering.
Mr Macron and Mr Merz held a press conference at the Schloss Augustusburg, a palace in Brühl, Germany – Thilo Schmuelgen/Reuters
French politicians fear that Europe’s biggest economy is pursuing a “Germany First” strategy, strengthening its own industry where possible while turning to American weapons when it suits.
Berlin’s decision to buy US-made Tomahawk long-range missiles irked Paris. Germany also leads the European Sky Shield Initiative, which relies heavily on American Patriot and Israeli-American Arrow 3 systems, while France says Europe should favour home-grown equipment.
Even so, Mr Macron has appealed for the two countries to keep building weapons together.
“Despite the failure of FCAS, which I deeply regret, we would be wrong to stop there,” he told French military chiefs before Bastille Day.
“Patriotism, yes; nationalism, never. At a time when Europe is rearming, to think that each of us separately accumulating capabilities is the way history is going is absurd.”
Mr Macron and Mr Merz began the defence council at Nörvenich air base beside a French Rafale and a German Eurofighter – a symbolic backdrop after the aircraft designed to replace them was scrapped.
Nuclear deterrence offers one field where the strained partnership can still move forward.
German troops would play a conventional supporting role and would not control French weapons. Berlin will also help develop radar and space-based systems for detecting ballistic and hypersonic missiles.
Mr Macron has insisted that the decision to use France’s arsenal will remain his alone, but he has overturned decades of doctrine by offering to place French deterrence more firmly at Europe’s service.
Standing before one of France’s nuclear submarines in Brittany earlier this year, he announced “forward deterrence”, under which nuclear-capable French Rafale jets could temporarily deploy to allied bases, supported by local fighter escorts and air defences.
Britain, Germany, Poland, the Netherlands, Belgium, Greece, Sweden and Denmark have agreed to participate.
It builds on a nuclear rapprochement between Britain and France, Europe’s only two nuclear powers.
Under last year’s Northwood Declaration, London and Paris said their independent deterrents could be coordinated against an extreme threat, while British officials have attended a French strategic air force exercise.
Mr Macron’s new doctrine means Rafales capable of carrying nuclear-armed missiles could, in theory, be temporarily stationed in Britain, although no such deployment has been announced and Paris would retain sole authority over any weapons.
Friedrich Merz, right, has turned Germany into Europe’s biggest defence spender – Ludovic Marin/AFP via Getty Images
Mr Merz stressed that cooperation with France would complement, rather than replace, Nato and Germany’s existing role under the American nuclear umbrella.
He also announced that German forces would join a French-led exercise this autumn as part of the “coalition of the willing” supporting Ukraine. The manoeuvre will prepare a multinational force that could deploy after a ceasefire.
Mr Macron is also seeking to make the new military links difficult for his successor to unpick.
With less than a year before he leaves the Élysée and the National Rally leading many polls, officials want to embed Franco-German cooperation to the point that even a nationalist government would hesitate to dismantle it.
A senior National Rally source recently told The Telegraph: “It is obvious that a French nuclear umbrella over Europe cannot be offered without something in return. It can’t be done without some sort of quid pro quo.”