Artist rendering of a Columbia-class ballistic missile submarine.
Rama, CC BY-SA 3.0 FR, via Wikimedia Commons
For months now, President Macron has been spreading a dangerous message: France could well give up exercising its full military sovereignty alone and decide to share its nuclear weapons with its European partners, starting with Germany. This prospect, which seems to be something of an obsession for him, is causing great concern to the Rassemblement National (RN), which is considering impeachment proceedings against him if he persists in this direction.
Just one year ago, on February 28th, 2025, the president said he was ready to “open discussions” with France’s European partners on this fundamental issue. A few months later, he reiterated this stance in an interview with the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung on October 1st, stating, “The French nuclear umbrella exists. I am currently working on updating our doctrine and I wish to continue deepening our strategic dialogue with those Europeans who so desire. … In early 2026, I will give a speech on nuclear doctrine.”
The tone was set. The use of vague rhetorical formulas, dear to President Macron, is likely to raise alarms: the “updating” of the doctrine could well mean, for those who can read between the lines, the abandonment of France’s nuclear deterrence privilege.
For the time being, despite the announcement, as February draws to a close, the French president has not commented on his exact intentions. But his German counterpart has revealed those intentions on his behalf, stating on January 29th, 2026, that discussions were currently underway with other European countries on “a common nuclear deterrent.” As France is the only member of the European Union to possess nuclear weapons, the message could not be clearer.
In French political circles, sovereignist voices were quick to react strongly to this admission. MP and former presidential candidate Nicolas Dupont-Aignan described such discussions as “extremely serious,” especially as they are currently being held without any consultation with parliament.
Macron more or less confirmed his current thinking with some circumlocutions at the Munich Security Conference, explaining that he had entered into a “strategic dialogue” with Germany:
This is important because it is a means of articulating nuclear deterrence within a holistic approach to defence and security as part of a Franco-German “strategic culture.”
The French Constitution of the Fifth Republic makes the head of state the commander-in-chief of the armed forces. The same constitution entrusts him with the duty of being the “guarantor of national independence” and not of any European independence. However, nuclear deterrence is the cornerstone of French national defence and therefore of this national independence; the issue is therefore of the utmost importance.
This perspective echoes another, equally worrying one for the French Right: the abandonment of France’s permanent seat on the UN Security Council, which was hard-won in 1945 by General de Gaulle, with the support of Churchill, when it was a question of old Europe asserting itself in the looming duel between the United States and the USSR.
Within Rassemblement National the threat is taken very seriously, as explained by MEP Jean-Paul Garraud, head of the RN’s French delegation in the European Parliament, in an interview to be published in Boulevard Voltaire on Saturday, February 28th. His party intends to be “uncompromising” on the issue, which it considers a breaking point. “We are seriously considering, if Mr. Macron were to go in this direction, launching impeachment proceedings,” Garraud reveals.
Emmanuel Macron’s blunders on the international stage have been legion since his first election, and France’s position has, under his influence, deteriorated and weakened considerably—as never before in its recent history. But abandoning nuclear deterrence would be the last straw, justifying an impeachment procedure, provided for in Article 68 of the Constitution. “The President of the Republic may only be removed from office in the event of a breach of his duties manifestly incompatible with the exercise of his mandate,” states this article. The far left, through La France Insoumise (LFI), has repeatedly brandished the threat of impeachment, without convincing public opinion, on insufficient grounds, mainly related to political squabbles. The RN has never followed suit, even though Marine Le Pen and Jordan Bardella’s party has not hesitated on several occasions to join forces with LFI to challenge the prime minister. This time, the stakes are higher and could justify the RN’s approach.
The timetable is accelerating. On Monday, March 2nd, President Macron is due to visit the Ile-Longue naval base near Brest, where France’s nuclear-armed ballistic missile submarines are traditionally stationed. He has promised to give a speech on the role of French nuclear deterrence in Europe. His words will be scrutinised closely.
The impeachment procedure, which is cumbersome and complex, has very little chance of success: it requires a secret vote of two-thirds of the representatives of both assemblies constituted as a High Court. None has ever succeeded. But the signal sent by the RN would nonetheless be extremely powerful and would reinforce its position as the leading opponent of the system.
