Macron doubts that European anti-missile shield will ward off Russian threat and suggests “nuclear deterrence”

French President Emmanuel Macron said this Friday that he had doubts that a European “anti-missile shield” would offer “total protection” against Russia, calling for strategic reflection in Europe that includes “nuclear deterrence”. Europe is “the continent that could be hit tomorrow by missiles” from Russia, which “is once again becoming an uninhibited power”, Macron told journalists on the sidelines of a visit to Strasbourg.

“The debate raised by the Germans, especially because they do not have a nuclear deterrent system, is legitimate,” Macron said, adding that he is “not sure that there is any type of anti-missile shield that fully protects against Russian missiles or that dissuade them.” According to the French President, the solution could be “a package”: “we ourselves launch [mísseis de] long range to deter”, “have shields, domes”, as Germany proposes, “and integrate the issue of deterrence [nuclear] in this reflection.”

For Macron, it is necessary to carry out “strategic reflection” and “clarify the concept” before analyzing weapons “capabilities” and, in this aspect, there is “a slight difference” in relation to the German approach.

In his long speech on Europe, given on Thursday at the Sorbonne University in Paris, the French head of state announced his intention to begin discussions with his European partners to build a “strategic concept” for a “European defense credible”, in which he raised the hypothesis of Europe needing a European anti-missile defense shield. “Will this (anti-missile defense shield) be enough to face Russian missiles?”, said Emmanuel Macron.

Russia, he added, reveals itself to be increasingly aggressive and has “ballistic capabilities (…) whose reach and technology have transformed, nuclear weapons and growing capabilities” so measures must be taken: “it is clear that we have to build this strategic concept of a credible European defense for ourselves”.

The objective is for Europe, which the French head of state believes to be “mortal”, to be able to defend itself, “with its allies when they are ready to do so, and alone if necessary”. France’s nuclear deterrent is “an essential element in the defense of the European continent”, he said.

Germany launched the European anti-missile shield initiative “Euro Sky Shield” in October 2022, which Paris opposed, along with Italy and Poland. So far, Berlin has already brought together twenty other European countries around this initiative, which will benefit from North American, Israeli and German technologies, but will not have any French-made equipment.

In his Sorbonne speech, the French President also stated that Europeans cannot rely solely on the support of the United States for their defense, because for Washington “this is not the priority”. Without going so far as to call for the creation of a European army, he called for “strategic intimacy” in the military domain between EU member states.

Furthermore, Macron explained that it is necessary to “increase defense spending”, suggesting a European loan to finance the defense effort, in addition to applying “European preference in the purchase of military equipment”, as well as accelerating the integration of armies in the face of threats such as Russia, with which there has been a recent increase in tensions due to the support provided by France to Ukraine.

France is the only country in the European Union that has nuclear weapons. In January, during a visit to Sweden, Emmanuel Macron reaffirmed that his country has “a special responsibility” in this regard, especially since the French “vital interests” that can be defended by this nuclear deterrent “are, in part, essentially European “.