France’s ability to secure Europe’s nuclear umbrella is weak, Lithuanian Prime Minister Gintautas Paluckas has said as he called against steps that could undermine trust in NATO.
“Today, Lithuania is under the protection of NATO’s nuclear umbrella. Seven NATO countries are taking part in the nuclear deterrence program. The French proposal is interesting, but I would like to say that the French nuclear arsenal and their ability to secure the European umbrella is still very weak,” the prime minister told reporters at the Seimas on Monday.
“Therefore, we can discuss and talk about everything, but my call would be not to undermine confidence in NATO,” he added.
His comment came in response to French President Emmanuel Macron’s statement last week that Paris was considering extending the country’s nuclear deterrent to cover European partners.
Lithuanian President Gitanas Nausėda thanked Macron for this proposal, as he was assured that the French president’s adviser would come to Lithuania to present the idea in more detail.
Paluckas said that everything can be discussed, but today “Lithuania is under the protection of NATO's nuclear deterrent umbrella”.
"We can talk about what we want, what we can afford, what the effect would be. We can do that at the State Defence Council and then we will have a plan, and today the plan is based on the NATO nuclear deterrence umbrella,” he stressed.
Meanwhile, Seimas Speaker Saulius Skvernelis believes that the French-proposed nuclear umbrella would be a significant step towards strengthening the security of EU countries.
“If France decided to do so, it would be a significant step towards strengthening the security of EU countries. Many people here probably have a different idea and think that we would immediately have some launchers and nuclear warheads of our own, it is a misunderstanding to think like that,” Skvernelis said at the Seimas on Monday.
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