Strategic cooperation
Building on the joint declaration of President Macron and Chancellor Merz of 2nd March 2026 and pursuant to the establishment of the German-French “Nuclear Steering Group” under the joint chairmanship of the French President and the German Chancellor, with the participation of Ministries of Foreign Affairs and Ministries of Defence, Germany and France will further develop their strategic cooperation and their common strategic culture. Our confidential consultations will focus on the articulation of conventional, Deep Precision Strike and missile defence capabilities with nuclear deterrence, in order to increase our ability to manage escalation beneath the nuclear threshold and to develop the necessary conventional capabilities.

This unprecedented bilateral cooperation will contribute to strengthening deterrence in Europe and enhancing Europe’s security as a whole in full compliance with our international legal obligations. It will add to, not substitute for, NATO’s nuclear deterrence and NATO’s nuclear sharing arrangements, to which Germany contributes.

Today, the deployment of Rafale aircraft from the French Strategic Air Forces to the German 31 Tactical Air Wing “Boelcke” at Nörvenich marks the first operational step in Franco-German strategic cooperation It will be followed by further steps this year, including German conventional participation in a French nuclear exercise.