Finland to join Macron’s nuclear deterrent

Finland has decided to “join” the “advanced” nuclear deterrent weapon proposed by French President Emmanuel Macron in March for European states, as the two countries announced in a joint statement on Monday, September 14.

“A nuclear pilot group will be created in the coming months to begin implementing this cooperation,” they added. The number of European countries that have joined the French initiative has thus reached ten.

Since France and the United Kingdom are the only European countries that possess nuclear weapons, this initiative links other European countries wishing to join the French nuclear deterrent, although the final decision on the use of this force still rests with the French head of state.

Finnish President Alexander Stubb told Platform X that the French initiative aims “primarily to strengthen European security” and “to prevent escalations,” without “replacing” NATO’s nuclear protection.

“For Finland, NATO and the European Union remain the primary frameworks for action,” he added, saying his country does not want to see nuclear weapons stationed “on its territory in peacetime.”

The announcement came in the context of a new strategic partnership between France and Finland to be signed on Monday afternoon, September 14, in Helsinki by the foreign ministers of the two countries.

In a speech in early March at the strategic base of Île Longue, near Brest, Emmanuel Macron updated France’s nuclear deterrence doctrine.