Macron Pushes Nuclear Expansion Just Weeks After Calling for Peace

Following months of talk about his possible role in overseeing ‘peacekeeping’ efforts in Ukraine, French president Emmanuel Macron this week expressed a desire to talk seriously about deploying his country’s nuclear weapons across Europe.

Macron justified his view on Tuesday, May 13th, by pointing to American “bombs on planes in Belgium, Germany, Italy, Turkey”—not that Europe is interested in following the U.S. in other regards—and said that “since the nuclear doctrine exists, there is always a European dimension in taking into account vital interests.”

Macron insisted in his television address on French TF1 that “we do not want to unleash a Third World War.” But the Kremlin responded on Wednesday that

The deployment of nuclear weapons on the European continent is not what will bring security, predictability and stability to the European continent.

After Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk last week said he signed a treaty with Macron opening the door to French nuclear missiles on Polish territory, Les Patriotes chief Florian Philippot demanded to know “who authorised” the French president to back this “unacceptable” notion. Former MEP Gilbert Collard also said the plan shows Macron “really wants to get us into deep trouble.”

It is not yet clear where nuclear bombs would be placed in Poland. Three conditions were identified for plans to move forward, namely that “France will not pay for the security of others” and it “will not come at the expense of what we need.”

The final decision will always rest with the president of the republic, as the head of the armed forces.

Macron said he will lay down the “framework” for future discussions “in a very specific way in the weeks and months to come.”