French President Emmanuel Macron has said he is ready to start discussions on nuclear deterrence for Europe, hinting France could help to protect other EU countries, given the security threats posed by Russia.
European leaders will meet in London on Sunday to discuss a peace plan for Ukraine and they will attend a European Union summit on Thursday.
The bloc is grappling with US President Donald Trump's willingness to embrace Russian diplomacy and the implications of an extraordinary clash between Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and Trump at the White House on Friday.
Macron told Portuguese TV RTP in an interview he posted on X on Saturday that if Europe wanted to move towards "greater autonomy" in matters of defence and nuclear deterrence, then its leaders should start a discussion about it.
France's nuclear doctrine
"I am available to open this discussion...if it allows to build a European force," he said. "There has always been a European dimension to France's vital interests within its nuclear doctrine."
French far-right leader Marine Le Pen was swift to react to Macron's comments.
"The French nuclear deterrent must remain a French nuclear deterrent," she said as she visited the Farm Show in Paris on Saturday. "It must not be shared, let alone delegated."
Defence Minister Sebastien Lecornu reiterated Macron's stance that France's vital interests include a “European dimension”, but also that it was under the exclusive control of the French head of state.
"Our nuclear deterrent is French, and it will remain so: from the design and production of our weapons, to their implementation by decision of the President of the Republic," he said on X.
"It protects the vital interests of France, which the head of state alone can define."