Norway Joins France’s Nuclear Umbrella After Jonas Gahr Stoere Meets Emmanuel Macron

Norway will come under France’s nuclear umbrella after Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Stoere told NTB on Wednesday that Oslo would join a French-led nuclear weapons initiative.

Stoere traveled to Paris on Wednesday afternoon to meet President Emmanuel Macron and sign a new defence agreement, with the leaders saying the two countries had signed a defence pact.

Defence24

Stoere said, "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," as the plan was framed around Europe’s security concerns.

The Straits Times reported that Macron and Stoere announced the plan at a meeting in Paris, where they also signed a broader defence agreement that includes Norway joining a French-led nuclear weapons initiative.

The plan was presented with a peacetime constraint, with Reuters reporting that "No nuclear weapons will be deployed in Norway in peacetime."

Stoere said Norway’s primary deterrence would remain the NATO alliance and the United States, while describing France’s nuclear capabilities as "an important contribution" to the alliance’s overall posture.

In Paris, Macron said, "This agreement establishes a principle of mutual assistance between our two countries," as the plan was described as involving European partners more closely in French strategic thinking on nuclear defence.

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RBC-Ukraine reported that Støre emphasized Norway’s participation does not change Norway’s position on nuclear weapons, and that "Our deterrence will continue to be carried out through NATO."

France 24 said Norway became the ninth country to join the France-led nuclear deterrence scheme, with Store and Macron announcing in Paris that Oslo would join a Paris-led nuclear deterrence scheme to bolster security on the continent.

France 24 also quoted Store saying, "The agreement reinforces our cooperation through concrete structures, plans, exercises and prepositioning of equipment," as the pact was tied to coordinated response planning.

The Reuters reporting carried by Global Banking & Finance Review framed the decision as driven by "Russia's massive rearmament" and a "full-scale war against another European country," linking the nuclear initiative to the security environment in Europe.

“France and Norway have signed the Narvik Agreement, but the most important part is not the bilateral defence clause itself”

Defence24

France 24 said Macron’s March programme would allow those who join to temporarily host French "strategic air forces" to "spread out across the European continent" and "complicate the calculations of our adversaries," positioning the initiative as more than a bilateral arrangement.

The Straits Times described the initiative as coming as European countries seek to strengthen their own defence capabilities amid doubts about long-term US commitments and heightened tensions with Russia.

France 24 said France has an estimated 290 nuclear warheads, and that more than 80 percent of France's warheads are submarine-launched, while the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists and SIPRI figures were cited for comparative context.

In the same Reuters account, Global Banking & Finance Review said Norway is a NATO member but not in the European Union and shares a border with Russia in the Arctic, underscoring the geographic stakes described alongside the defence pact.