The leaders ofFranceandNorwaysaid on Wednesday that Oslo will joina Paris-led nuclear deterrence schemeto bolster security on the continent.
"We are contending with the most serious security situation since the Second World War," Norway's Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store said as he and French PresidentEmmanuel Macronannounced inParisthat the two countries had signed a defence pact.
"In the past six months, we have entered into defence agreements with bothGermanyand theUK, and I am pleased that we have signed a comprehensive defence agreement with France today," he said.
In March, Macron unveiled a programme under which France, theEuropean Union's only nuclear-armed country, would use its atomic stockpile to boost security on the continent.
Under the so-called "forward" nuclear deterrence scheme, those who join will be able to temporarily host French "strategic air forces", which will be able to "spread out across the European continent" to "complicate the calculations of our adversaries", Macron said at the time.
"Norway, a key geographical and strategic partner with which we already had significant cooperation in ensuring the protection of Allied territory against external threats, will represent a strong added value for this enhanced deterrence," Macron said.
Prior to Norway, eight countries had joined the programmeBelgium,Denmark, Germany,Greece, theNetherlands,Poland,Swedenand fellow nuclear power the United Kingdom.
"The agreement reinforces our cooperation through concrete structures, plans, exercises and prepositioning of equipment, and will enable us to mount a swift and coordinated response when it is really needed," Store said.
"The agreement also provides a framework for closer cooperation on hybrid warfare, maritime security, space cooperation, cybersecurity, support toUkraineand defence industrial cooperation."
France has an estimated 290 nuclear warheads, according to the latest figures released by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) and the Federation of American Scientists (FAS). More than 80 percent of France's warheads are submarine-launched, according to the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists.
That makes France the worlds fourth-largest nuclear power afterRussiain the top spot (with more than 4,300 warheads) followed by the United States (with 3,700) andChina(600). The United Kingdom which is no longer an EU member but still aNATOally is estimated to have about 225 warheads, according to SIPRI and FAS.
(FRANCE 24 with AFP and AP)
Originally published on France24
