Paris, France. Norway will come under France’s nuclear umbrella after signing a new defence agreement with Paris, Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Stoere said on Wednesday. The move comes amid growing concerns in Europe over U.S. commitment to the region’s security.
Security concerns
Stoere travelled to Paris on Wednesday afternoon to meet President Emmanuel Macron and sign the agreement, 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.
Norway’s position
The Nordic nation of 5.6 million inhabitants is a member of NATO but not of the European Union, and shares a border with Russia in the Arctic. Norway has long been regarded as an Atlanticist country, with its security traditionally linked closely to Washington.
France’s nuclear protection
In March, France offered to extend the protection of its nuclear umbrella to other European countries, meaning that an attack on Norway could trigger a French nuclear response.
Norway is the latest country to receive France’s nuclear protection, after Poland and Lithuania, which also share borders with Russia.
Global nuclear arsenals
Russia and the United States are the world’s biggest nuclear powers, with more than 5,000 nuclear warheads each, according to the Federation of American Scientists. China has about 500 warheads, France has 290 and Britain 225.
