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Germany will participate in a French military nuclear exercise later this year as Berlin and Paris work to strengthen their future deterrence cooperation, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said Friday following talks between representatives of the two governments near Cologne.
Speaking at a joint news conference with French President Emmanuel Macron, Merz said a bilateral “strategic steering group” would examine ways to increase deterrence and develop a shared doctrine.
“Alongside this work on a shared doctrine, German conventional forces will this year take part in a nuclear exercise of the French military,” Merz said.
Merz said Germany’s participation in the French exercise would complement its existing nuclear role and deterrence commitments within NATO.
“This is complementary to our nuclear participation and deterrence within NATO, which we still hold to,” he said.
The strategic steering group established by Germany and France will consider how the two countries can further strengthen deterrence in the future.
Merz also said Germany would participate in a military maneuver related to Ukraine that France plans to organize in the autumn.
“We will clarify together what form exactly this participation will take,” he said.
The exercise will be held under the initiative of France and form part of the activities of the Coalition of the Willing, a group of Ukraine’s allies.
Members of the coalition held their latest meeting in Paris earlier this week, with both Macron and Merz attending.
During the meeting, Macron said a Multinational Force for Ukraine would conduct exercises in the coming months in countries neighboring Ukraine.
The force would be deployed after the fighting ends.
Macron said the planned exercises would be used “to validate our deployment plans and demonstrate that we are ready.”
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