Norway Will Come Under France's Nuclear Umbrella, Says PM Stoere

(MENAFN- Gulf Times) Norway will come under France's nuclear umbrella, Prime Minister ‌Jonas Gahr Stoere told news agency ​NTB yesterday, ‌as concerns grow in Europe ‌over US commitment ⁠to ‌the region's security. The move ‌by Norway is significant as it has ⁠long been a so-called Atlanticist nation, one which believed its security was best achieved via close alignment with Washington.

Stoere travelled to Paris yesterday afternoon to meet President Emmanuel Macron and sign a new defence ​agreement with France, which includes Norway joining a French-led nuclear weapons initiative. "We are doing this in light ‌of the security ⁠policy situation ​in Europe, including Russia's massive rearmament, also ​in the nuclear domain, and that it is waging a full-scale war against another European country," Stoere told Norwegian news agency NTB. No nuclear weapons will be deployed in Norway in peacetime, he added.

The Nordic nation of 5.6 mn inhabitants is a member of Nato, but not of the ‌European Union, and ‌shares a border ⁠with Russia in the Arctic. In March, France offered ⁠to extend ⁠the protection of its nuclear umbrella to other European countries which, in practice, means that an attack on Norway could trigger a French nuclear response.

Norway becomes the latest country to receive ​France's nuclear protection, after Poland and Lithuania, which also share borders with Russia. Russia and the US are the world's biggest nuclear powers, with over 5,000 nuclear warheads each. China has about 500, France has 290 and Britain 225, according to the Federation of American Scientists.

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