MEDIA RELEASE
Published in French 8 May 2025

Europe is commemorating the 80th anniversary, for her, of World War II - but at the same time has been living for over three years in a war involving one nuclear power. At the same time, another nuclear power is waging an asymetrical war in the Near East, and two more nuclear powers are having a military stand-off in South Asia. In the state of extreme tension of today’s world, these conflicts could degenerate in atomic war.

That is why our three associations (ACDN, IDN, PUGWASH-France) consider that France, instead of wishing to extend her "nuclear deterrence" to the rest of Europe, should instead invite the five nuclear states within the NPT (Non-Proliferation Treaty) to get together and apply the treaty’s Article VI, which obliges them to negotiate the complete and controlled elimination of these weapons of mass destruction and extermination. These negotiations should also include the four other States known to have these arms, and those that host them.

If this diplomatic initiative does not happen, we ask that the people of France be consulted on this matter, and we support the Parliamentary Bill aimed at organizing a "shared-initiative" referendum on this vital question.