Finland will join the French nuclear deterrence initiative, and cooperation with France will include consultations on nuclear doctrine, exercises, and the presence of French strategic aviation in the country.
Finnish Defense Minister Antti Häkkänen called it a logical step and recalled that Norway, Sweden, and Denmark have already joined the initiative.
Finnish President Alexander Stubb explained that participation in the initiative does not mean the permanent deployment of French nuclear weapons in Finland, and that there will be no such weapons in the country in peacetime.
According to him, participation will help Helsinki better understand how France plans to use nuclear forces to deter an adversary.
French President Emmanuel Macron is promoting the initiative among European allies against the backdrop of the war in Ukraine and disputes over American security guarantees; France remains the only EU country with its own nuclear arsenal.
According to Spiegel, Paris is considering the temporary deployment of Rafale fighter jets capable of carrying nuclear weapons, the use of allied airspace and military bases, as well as in-flight refueling, while control over the arsenal will remain solely with the President of France.
In June, Finland’s parliament passed a law lifting the ban on the import, transit, and storage of nuclear weapons on the country’s territory if this is required for national defense needs.
In Lithuania, the parliamentary Committee on Law and Order supported a proposal to repeal the constitutional provision prohibiting the deployment of weapons of mass destruction and foreign military bases in the country; the Speaker of the Lithuanian Seimas, Juozas Olekas, said that parliament expects to adopt the amendment in winter, and the autumn session may be extended until January 13, 2027.
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