Ready to begin talks on French nuclear weapons in European countries: Macron

France’s President Emmanuel Macron during his appearance on a special program of the French channel TF1 in Saint-Denis, north of Paris, France, on May 13, 2025.
| Photo Credit: Reuters

French President Emmanuel Macron, on Tuesday (May 13, 2025), said that France was “ready to open” discussions about stationing France’s nuclear weapons in other European countries. Mr Macron’s comments come as Europeans seek to bolster their defences , especially against Russia and as the Trump administration has signalled that the U.S. will no longer underwrite European security.

Asked during a television interview to respond to Polish President Andrzej Duda’s remarks in April that Poland would like to host both American and French nuclear weapons on its soil, Mr Macron said his country was “ready to open this discussion”.

The framework for deployment of nuclear weapons would be discussed in the weeks and months ahead, subject to conditions, Mr Macron said, in a lengthy discussion with television channel TF1 on Tuesday (May 14, 2025) evening.

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“Let’s be clear, France will not pay for the security of others. It can be a European effort or the effort of each nation, ” Mr Macron said, enlisting the first of three conditions.

Second, the transfer of nuclear bombs  to other countries would not come at the expense of France’s own deterrence, according to Mr Macron. Finally, the French President would be ultimately in charge of whether they could be used, he said.

The President indicated that the discussions had already begun.

Mr Macron and Friedrich Merz, newly sworn-in German Chancellor, had discussed a nuclear deterrent during Mr Merz’s visit to Paris last week. The Chancellor had said that there was a need to discuss nuclear deterrence with France and the U.K. — Europe’s only two nuclear powers — and that any such deterrent would supplement the framework with the U.S. and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).

American nuclear weapons (all of them gravity bombs) have been stationed in Europe since the 1950s. While the exact number is unknown, American bombs are at present stored in Italy, Germany, Belgium, Turkiye and the Netherlands, as part of a NATO nuclear sharing arrangement.