Norway will come under France’s nuclear deterrence programme, according to the leaders of both countries, reflecting a growing concern in Europe about relying on the United States for security.
Norway’s Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store and French President Emmanuel Macron announced the plan at a meeting Wednesday in Paris, where they signed a broader defence agreement that includes Norway joining a French-led nuclear weapons initiative.
The move is a shift for Norway, which belongs to NATO but not the European Union, and shares a border with Russia in the Arctic.
Norway has historically relied on NATO and the United States' nuclear umbrella, which Store said would not change. However, he described France's nuclear capabilities as "an important contribution to NATO's deterrence posture, which is important for us".
The agreement with France "will enable us to mount a swift and coordinated response when it is really needed", Store said, warning: "We are contending with the most serious security situation since the Second World War."
'Forward' deterrence
In March, Macron unveiled a programme under which France, the only nuclear-armed member of the EU, would extend its protection to other countries.
Under the so-called “forward” nuclear deterrence scheme, those who join will be able to temporarily host French strategic air forces, which will spread out across the European continent to “complicate the calculations of our adversaries”, Macron said at the time.
In practice, it means that an attack on a country could trigger a French nuclear response.
Norway will become the ninth country to join the programme, after Belgium, Denmark, Germany, Greece, the Netherlands, Poland, Sweden and the nuclear-armed United Kingdom.
"This agreement establishes a principle of mutual assistance between our two countries," Macron said on Wednesday, adding that deeper cooperation would support Europe's ambitions for greater strategic autonomy.
(with newswires)
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