After Macron's advance: Baerbock cautious about the EU as a nuclear power

So far, France is the only nuclear power in the EU, but President Macron is once again bringing a joint nuclear deterrent for the EU states into play. Federal Foreign Minister Baerbock reacts cautiously to the initiative – and refers to the cooperation with the USA.

Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock has expressed reservations about French President Emmanuel Macron’s proposal for a joint European nuclear deterrent. The federal government has set the course for new procurements within the framework of nuclear sharing together with the USA, said the Greens politician. This will now also be promoted in the budget negotiations, she added. This is a “big picture that we exchange with our partners and of course also intensively with the French”.

For decades, Germany has been involved in NATO’s nuclear deterrence with its own fighter jets. They are stationed at the Büchel Air Base in the Rhineland-Palatinate Eifel region in order to deploy US nuclear bombs stored there in an emergency. This is called nuclear sharing. The Tornado fighter jets currently planned for this purpose are to be replaced by modern US-type F-35 stealth jets. It is one of the largest armament projects of the Bundeswehr.

In view of the Russian war of aggression in Ukraine, which has been going on for almost a year, Baerbock pointed out that the federal government is working intensively on strengthening joint defense within the framework of NATO and the European Union. The strategic concept of NATO was reformulated, as were the EU’s foreign and security policy guidelines. Germany is working on a national security strategy, Baerbock recalled.

Macron offered Germany and other EU partners renewed talks on nuclear deterrence in the EU at the security conference in Munich on Friday. The Russian aggression is a reminder of the important role nuclear weapons have and must continue to have in the European Union. Macron had already made a corresponding offer in early 2020. At the time, European partners like Germany reacted cautiously.

France has been the only remaining nuclear power in the EU since Great Britain left in 2020. Macron has long been demanding that Europe should make itself more independent of the superpower USA.