Furthermore, France is one of the five permanent members and sees nuclear power as a representation of its standing as a great power. It intends to avoid US influence and achieve the goal of developing an autonomous European defense force, which is consistent with Germany’s desire for a “EU nuclear force.” Because the plans coincided, there is no question that it became the principal focus of Germany’s international nuclear cooperation.
Previously, France has shown a willingness to share its nuclear weapons with Germany. For example, during an informal meeting of Franco-German officials in Merzburg on September 10, 2007, then-French President Nicolas Sarkozy offered to then-German Chancellor Angela Merkel that the two countries share the French nuclear arsenal.
Although Germany is now inferior to France in terms of military and diplomatic power, its economic strength is quite robust, and it may be called to be the engine of economic expansion for the whole EU. As a result, nuclear power sharing may be done by giving equal funding for the French nuclear arsenal. Germany relies heavily on joint construction to carry out its nuclear program. Germany has recently broached the concept of uniting European states to force France to hand over management of its nuclear weapons to the European Union.
Torsten Frei, deputy chairman of the German Bundestag parliamentary group, released an essay on May 25, 2022, expressing his desire that France will Europeanize its nuclear force, i.e. give it over to the European Union. Germany’s wishful thinking is that if France transfers nuclear weapons control to the EU in order to establish a separate management agency, Germany will use its own economic advantages to gain more state support in order to gain dominance of this management agency, and thus control of nuclear weapons. This would not only further weaken France, which has lost the support of its nuclear force, and strengthen its control in the EU, but it will also break down some of the “invisible or tangible hurdles” that hampered its national progress after WWII.
While Europe’s independence from US supervision is a major trend, Europe without US nuclear protection would confront an even larger security dilemma. At the moment, the United States’ nuclear force dominates the NATO nuclear framework, which serves as a bedrock of European security. The question of whether Germany’s “EU nuclear army” strategy can actually establish an effective European nuclear defense system remains unanswered. As a result, it is possible Most European countries do not want to see the “nuclear sharing” framework focused on the United States dismantled.
As a result, against the backdrop of Europe’s current fragile security situation and the new German government’s unclear foreign policy, Germany’s military growth, particularly the direction of its nuclear strategy, warrants the international community’s attention.
M. Raihan Ronodipuro earned a Master of Law in International Relations from the School of International and Public Affairs at Jilin University in China. He serves as an Associate Researcher in the Department of Politics and Security.