Dissuasion avancée: Macron’s Realistic Complement to NATO Nuclear Deterrence
- EU and strategic partners,
- EU strategy and foreign policy,
- Europe in the World,
- European defence / NATO,
On 2 March 2026, French President Emmanuel Macron delivered a speech on nuclear deterrence at the Ile Longue nuclear submarine base. The speech was made in a vastly different geopolitical and nuclear landscape compared to his previous nuclear deterrence speech from February 2020. As Macron said, “The weight of the last six years is that of decades for France and Europe. And the last few months have had the weight of years.” While multiple aspects of French nuclear doctrine remain the same, there were two noteworthy adjustments: (1) the new concept of dissuasion avancée or “forward deterrence” to make cooperation with European allies possible, and (2) an increase in the number of nuclear warheads. Importantly, Macron stressed that these efforts were complementary to NATO’s nuclear deterrence.
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