Germany opens talks with France on European nuclear deterrent as Munich forum urges reset with U.S.
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said Berlin has begun confidential talks with France about a European nuclear deterrent, arguing Europe must become stronger as it seeks to reset relations with the United States. The remarks came in an opening address to the Munich Security Conference that framed a more self-reliant Europe as essential in a “dangerous new era of great power politics.”
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“In the era of great power rivalry, even the United States will not be powerful enough to go it alone,” Merz said, switching to English near the close of his speech. “Dear friends, being a part of NATO is not only Europe’s competitive advantage. It is also the United States’ competitive advantage. So let’s repair and revive transatlantic trust together.”
The chancellor’s comments underscored how European leaders—facing Russia’s war in Ukraine and turbulence in global trade—are striving to preserve their alliance with Washington while carving out greater strategic autonomy. France is the European Union’s only nuclear-armed state since Britain left the bloc and maintains the world’s fourth-largest stockpile. Germany, bound by international agreements, is prohibited from developing its own weapons.
French President Emmanuel Macron is expected to lay out his views on deterrence later this month. French officials have kept the issue tightly held, stressing it falls under the president’s prerogative.
The opening session drew a heavy roster of leaders, including British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte, Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. The Munich gathering, founded as a Cold War forum for Western defense debate, has in recent years grappled with widening rifts across the Atlantic.
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, speaking before departing for Munich, said transatlantic ties are at “a defining moment” in a rapidly changing world. He struck a conciliatory tone that contrasted with Vice President JD Vance’s confrontational remarks at the same venue last year. “(The U.S. is) deeply tied to Europe, and our futures have always been linked and will continue to be,” Rubio said. “So we’ve just got to talk about what that future looks like.”
Merz directly rejected elements of the U.S. culture wars that have spilled into security debates. “A rift has opened up between Europe and the United States,” he said, referencing Vance’s 2025 address. “He was right. The culture war of the MAGA movement is not ours. Freedom of speech ends here with us when that speech goes against human dignity and the constitution. We do not believe in tariffs and protectionism, but in free trade.”
European reliance on the U.S. nuclear umbrella has been a bedrock of NATO since its founding, but sustained criticism from the Trump administration has pushed capitals across the continent to boost military spending and revisit assumptions about deterrence. A new YouGov survey of the six largest European countries shows favorability toward the United States at its lowest point since 2016, reflecting the erosion of the once-unquestioned presumption of cooperation at Munich.
The security forum also served as a venue for delicate Arctic diplomacy. Frederiksen said she and Greenland’s leader, Jens-Frederik Nielsen, held a “constructive” meeting with Rubio about the semi-autonomous Danish territory, following a period of strain after U.S. calls for control over Greenland. Washington, Copenhagen and Nuuk launched talks on Jan. 28 to manage the dispute through a high-level working group. Nielsen wrote on Instagram that Greenland’s interests were “again clearly highlighted” and that the talks are “the right way forward.” He has previously said that if Greenlanders were forced to choose between the U.S. and Denmark, they would choose Denmark.
NATO this week announced a mission to strengthen its presence in the Arctic, citing rising tensions in the region. The move reflects a broader shift among allies to shore up deterrence from the High North to the Black Sea, even as Europe debates how to share the nuclear burden while keeping the transatlantic bond intact.
For Berlin and Paris, any path toward a European nuclear pillar will test political will, legal boundaries and alliance cohesion. For Washington, repairing trust may prove just as consequential as any hardware on offer.
By Abdiwahab Ahmed
Axadle Times international–Monitoring.
