Ten European Nations Join French Nuclear Deterrence Pact

Ten European countries are joining France in a new nuclear deterrence framework aimed at countering Russian aggression.

The Wall Street Journal reported on Monday that the initiative, called forward deterrence, involves building infrastructure, communications, and intelligence-sharing links with Paris. The plan also includes deploying French nuclear-capable Rafale fighter jets across the continent.

The United Kingdom, Germany, Poland, the Netherlands, Belgium, Finland, Norway, Sweden, and Denmark have joined the project since French President Emmanuel Macron announced it in March. Finland’s President Alexander Stubb noted that his country does not plan to host nuclear weapons in peacetime. "We do have plans for creating a strategic dilemma for Russia," Stubb said. He described the effort as a 10- to 15-year process.

France has conducted one-on-one talks with each partner rather than holding joint meetings. Senior defense officials told the WSJ that this approach has forced European nations to maintain constant contact to compare what Paris shared with each of them.

The push follows growing doubts in Europe regarding American reliability. Questions over whether Washington would risk nuclear war to defend allies have intensified as US President Donald Trump pursues energy deals with Russian President Vladimir Putin and pressures Ukraine.

French officials argue their deterrent is more credible because of shared geography. "We share the same geography, we are part and parcel of the same continent," Macron’s adviser Chatel said at the Warsaw Security Conference. Macron asked in March whether the survival of close partners could be at risk without affecting France’s vital interests. Norwegian Foreign Minister Espen Barth Eide said the plan supplements, rather than replaces, US nuclear guarantees.

France will resume producing nuclear devices for the first time in decades and make its stockpile size confidential. The nuclear force will remain under French control. One European government minister said France will let allies participate as much as the United States. The arrangement was chosen to make the strategy acceptable across France’s political spectrum, including to Marine Le Pen’s far-right party, which is polling ahead in the presidential race before next spring.