France’s nuclear cooperation plan within Treaty limits
In the media image: Stephen Cobb on Unsplash
According to international law, President Marcron's invitation to the Netherlands and six other European allies to discuss 'extended nuclear cooperation' falls within the scope of the existing 1970 Treaty, says international law expert Anna Marhold in Dutch newspaper ‘Trouw’.
The Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) is an international treaty that aims to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons and weapons technology, to promote cooperation in the peaceful uses of nuclear energy and to achieve nuclear disarmament. Worldwide, 191 states – including France and the Netherlands – have become parties to the Treaty.
Marhold believes the promise to work towards disarmament, as stated in the Treaty, is worded too vaguely. As a result, participating states cannot be held legally accountable for it, ‘let alone demand that they never, under any circumstances, expand their nuclear arsenals.’ Macron was extremely cautious in his speech announcing the expansion of France’s nuclear arsenal. Marhold believes this was deliberate, to ensure that the expansion would not appear to be ‘in conflict with the Treaty’. Macron also made it clear that France’s nuclear weapons remain strictly under national control, in line with the policy of preventing an increase in the number of nuclear-armed states.
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Read the full article in Trouw (in Dutch)