A MARTÍNEZ, HOST:
France has announced it will increase the size of its nuclear arsenal for the first time in decades and intensify nuclear weapons cooperation with eight European allies, including Germany, the U.K. and Poland. NPR's Eleanor Beardsley reports the new strategy comes as Russia is getting more aggressive and the U.S. is stepping back from the continent.
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PRESIDENT EMMANUEL MACRON: (Speaking French).
ELEANOR BEARDSLEY, BYLINE: Standing in front of a massive nuclear submarine at a base in Brittany, French President Emmanuel Macron announced what he called France's new forward deterrence doctrine.
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MACRON: (Speaking French).
BEARDSLEY: "We've got to reinforce our nuclear dissuasion in the face of a combination of threats and rethink our strategy with the European continent in mind," he said. "We're living in a time with enormous risks, which justifies a hardening of our model. The gravest threat for Europe," said Macron, "is the long and cruel war Russia is waging against Ukraine."
Doubts over the Trump administration's commitment to European defense also prompted the change. For decades, American nukes have protected the continent. Macron's speech came as a new war is being waged in the Middle East. France and Britain are the only European nations other than Russia to have nuclear weapons.
ALAIN BAUER: It's the only free and independent nuclear power in Europe. Even the Brits are under heavy American control.
BEARDSLEY: That's defense and security expert Alain Bauer.
BAUER: For the first time, we are not reducing our powers, but we are expanding it in numbers, in force, in modernization. And probably we will expand it in the way we may use it.
BEARDSLEY: Macron said France had consulted with the U.S. and NATO and the moves are compatible with the existing systems. Joint exercises are to begin this year, but the French president will remain the only one with his finger on the nuclear button.
Eleanor Beardsley, NPR News, Paris. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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