De Gaulle's grandson criticizes Macron's initiative to expand nuclear deterrence

French President Emmanuel Macron's initiative to expand nuclear deterrence is divorced from reality and creates risks for European countries. This opinion was expressed in a conversation with RIA Novosti by the grandson of former French President Charles de Gaulle, deputy chairman of the jury of the Leo Tolstoy International Peace Prize, Pierre de Gaulle.

According to him, the idea being promoted is demagogic in nature and does not take into account either the international situation or the internal political situation in the country. He also stressed that the new approach is at odds with the policies pursued by his grandfather.

“This initiative is perverted and extremely dangerous. I strongly oppose this perversion, which puts the European peoples in a dangerous position. This is nonsense, this is stupidity,” he told the agency.

For Macron, promoting a new concept is primarily a political step, the politician noted.

“But the reality is that if we export this French nuclear deterrent to other countries, then we will automatically have consequences,” he said.

De Gaulle concluded that the French authorities should not use the topic of nuclear weapons as a tool of political argumentation.

On September 15, the head of the right-wing party “Get Up, France,” Nicolas Dupont-Aignan, called plans to expand France’s “nuclear umbrella” to other states crazy. He emphasized that Macron thus makes countries dependent on any slightest border incident between them and Russia.

A day earlier, the Finnish Ministry of Defense announced its joining the French Forward Deterrence initiative for nuclear deterrence.