Macron opens up to European nuclear weapons

I am ready to initiate such a discussion, if it enables the creation of a European force, he says in an interview with the Portuguese TV channel RTP, according to Reuters.

Macron adds that there has always been a "European dimension" to France's nuclear doctrine.

The statement comes after Germany's election winner Friedrich Merz proposed a European nuclear umbrella where Europe's two nuclear powers – France and the United Kingdom – "share".

France's Defense Minister Sebastien Lecornu clarifies after Macron's interview that France's nuclear capability will remain French.

"So it will remain: when it comes to both the design and production of our weapons to their implementation, which is decided by the President of the Republic", he writes on X.