German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and French President Emmanuel Macron are pushing ahead with cooperation on nuclear deterrence, with Germany agreeing to take part in a French nuclear exercise for the first time.
The German-French Defence and Security Council (DFVSR/CFADS) convened under their leadership on Friday morning in a maintenance hangar at the Nörvenich military airbase near Cologne to formally agree on Germany’s future participation in a French nuclear drill.
The meeting, which also included the two countries’ foreign and defence ministers, was flanked by two French Rafale and two German Eurofighter jets. The Rafales are designed to carry nuclear weapons.
Air refuelling as first exercise
The fighter jets had already taken part in a small exercise on Thursday to mark the practical start of nuclear cooperation. They were refuelled by a French tanker aircraft in French airspace. The exercise lasted just under two hours.
Macron had offered European partners the option of coming under France’s nuclear umbrella years ago. France is the only western European country with nuclear weapons, aside from the United Kingdom.
US nuclear weapons are currently stationed in Germany as part of NATO’s nuclear deterrence, with the Bundeswehr – the German armed forces – providing fighter jets for their potential deployment. The cooperation with France is intended to complement and strengthen NATO deterrence.
Nine countries want to cooperate with France
France has also agreed on nuclear cooperation with fellow nuclear power the United Kingdom. Seven other countries have responded positively to the French offer: Poland, the Netherlands, Belgium, Greece, Sweden, Denmark and Norway.
Regarding the scope of the cooperation, Macron had said in March that partners – such as Germany, in the near future – could take part in French nuclear exercises. In addition, strategic assets could be temporarily deployed to allied countries.
The French air force could also operate further afield in Europe, Macron added: “This dispersal across European territory … will complicate matters for our adversaries and will greatly enhance the value of our forward deterrence.”
He emphasized that the decision on the use of nuclear weapons would, in any case, remain with the French president – as would its planning and implementation.
Already in 2020, during US President Donald Trump’s first term in office, Macron had called for greater European sovereignty in the areas of the economy and defence. He offered EU allies talks on a European nuclear deterrent based on French nuclear weapons.
Merkel and Scholz both rejected offer from Paris
However, the then Chancellor Angela Merkel showed little interest in the proposal, as did her successor Olaf Scholz.
Merz, by contrast, had already expressed sympathy for Macron’s idea during his election campaign and, after taking office in May last year, declared himself willing to hold talks.
Today, the debate about the French offer is gaining momentum not only in Germany. Doubts across Europe about the reliability of the United States as a nuclear deterrent have grown dramatically since the start of Trump’s second term in office.
The realization that Europe must reduce its dependence on Washington has been hardening, not just since the dispute with the US over the Danish island of Greenland.
At present, NATO’s nuclear deterrent relies almost exclusively on US nuclear weapons. According to estimates, around 100 of these are still stationed in Europe – some of them at Büchel Air Base near the western German city of Koblenz.
US nuclear arms are also said to be stored in Belgium, the Netherlands, Italy and Turkey. There are no official figures on this.
How powerful are the European nuclear powers?
The nuclear weapons of France and the UK – which is no longer a member of the EU – currently serve merely as a supplement to NATO’s nuclear deterrent.
According to estimates by the peace research institute SIPRI, of the approximately 12,200 nuclear weapons worldwide, the US has 1,770 deployed for operational use, France has 280 and the UK has 120
This makes France the world’s fourth-largest nuclear power after Russia, the US and China.