Sharing France’s nuclear umbrella? No way, says Le Pen

PARIS ― A pooling of France’s nuclear warheads to help protect Europe won’t happen ― not if Marine Le Pen can help it.

The far-right leader on Saturday vigorously opposed plans to build a stronger, more integrated European defense, including by sharing France’s nuclear umbrella, as proposals to pool and ramp up the continent’s firepower have suddenly gained much more traction with U.S. President Donald Trump’s growing alignment with Russia’s Vladimir Putin.

“French defense must remain French defense,” Le Pen said, speaking at the Salon de l’Agriculture farming exhibition in Paris.

"The French nuclear deterrent must remain a French nuclear deterrent," she said. "It must not be shared, let alone delegated."

The French National Assembly, where Le Pen’s National Rally and its allies hold roughly a third of the seats since July’s snap election, on Monday will debate on European security and the situation in Ukraine. While military affairs are under the president’s remit, the parliament holds sway on defense-related bills, including the budget, which would inevitably be impacted should France seek to step up its military spending in the coming years.

Le Pen's comments come as European leaders are scrambling to build a credible response to Trump’s wrecking of decades of transatlantic consensus over the security of the continent, which has relied on American protection since the end of World War II.

The U.S. president’s undermining of NATO, his attacks on embattled Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and threats to pull back American troops from Europe have left European leaders stunned, scrambling to explore alternatives to America’s military might and its wide-ranging atomic shield.

Fighting for de Gaulle’s mantle

French Defense Minister Sébastien Lecornu on Saturday commented on the ongoing debate, insisting that President Emmanuel Macron’s overtures on using the French nuclear force to protect European interests didn’t mean surrendering sovereignty on its arsenal.

Macron has long advocated for a defense independent from Washington, a running theme for French politicians dating back to legendary General Charles de Gaulle, the father of the fifth republic and the country’s most revered politician.

Le Pen on Saturday also vied for the general’s heritage, pointing her finger at Europe’s apparent powerlessness amid the waves of chaos coming from Washington and Moscow.

“What does yesterday's conversation actually shows?” she asked, referring to Trump’s browbeating of Zelenskyy the day before in the Oval Office, which she sought to downplay. “It is that the Americans decide whether to end or continue the war. And that, for European nations, is a considerable slap in the face,” she said.

“It is an absolutely major diplomatic failure, a loss of influence that is now obvious to everyone,” Le Pen said.

But unlike Macron, Le Pen is adamant that more Europe is not the answer.

Instead, she vowed to fight any attempt at making an integrated European defense a reality, something that could prove a serious roadblock to the EU’s ambitions should Le Pen prevail in the country’s presidential election.

“As usual, the European Union is using a crisis to get itself additional powers,” Le Pen said. “I can see that they would like this conflict to continue, so that they can take over responsibility for defense. I don't accept this.”

CORRECTION: This story was updated to clarify the framework for the debate on Ukraine in the National Assembly. It will be a debate with no vote.