On 1 February 2021 we sent a letter to President Macron regarding the Teutates Treaty by which the United Kingdom and France, without public debate, have committed to ruinous, immoral military nuclear cooperation, in a way which is directly contrary to the provisions of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.
See the full text below or download a version in French as a pdf here.
We also wrote to the court in Dijon to show our solidarity with three campaigners due to be tried for entering the Valduc site where French nuclear weapons are researched, manufactured and maintained to hang and photograph a banner calling for the reconversion of the site. See an English version of the letter here
Président de la République
Palais de l’Elysée
55 rue du Faubourg St Honoré
75008 Paris
London, 1st February 2021
Regarding the Teutates treaty for Defence and Security Co-operation between the United Kingdom and France
Dear Mr. Macron,
We are writing to you as citizens of the United Kingdom, but above all as Europeans and citizens of the world, concerned with promoting worldwide peace and security.
Founded in 1997, with more than 150 members and supporters, our movement works for nuclear disarmament in our own country, and for the non-violent resolution of conflicts and friendship and cooperation between peoples. Our campaigning and our commitment are based on the conviction that all nuclear weapons are illegal under international humanitarian law, a conviction which has now been confirmed by the entry into force of the UN Treaty to Prohibit Nuclear Weapons.
We write to you to express our resolute opposition to the Teutates Treaty by which the United Kingdom and France, without public debate, have committed to ruinous, immoral military nuclear cooperation, in a way which is directly contrary to the provisions of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, of which the two countries are signatories. To take just one example of cooperation within the framework of the Teutates treaty, the ‘Epure’ programme of the CEA-DAM site in Valduc is carried out together with the British with the aim of installing at the CEA in Valduc a set of 3 accelerator electrons to X-ray the explosion of the first stage of detonation of nuclear bombs.
Such cooperation directly contradicts Article 6 of the NPT: “Each of the Parties to the Treaty undertakes to pursue negotiations in good faith on effective measures relating to cessation of the nuclear arms race at an early date and to nuclear disarmament, and on a treaty on general and complete disarmament under strict and effective international control.” (our italics); we would also like to remind you that the NPT came into force over fifty years ago, and that the general disarmament it calls for at an early date is needed more urgently now than ever before.
The objectives of the Teutates program are clearly set out in a document concerning the Epure simulation programme, which the CEA has produced to mark the 10th anniversary of the signing of the Treaty: “[Our] cooperation in matters of nuclear defence enables our two countries to preserve for the long term their hydrodynamic capacities and the associated technologies”[1] (our italics). From this joint planning for the long term, and from their individual investments in long-term upgrades of their respective nuclear deterrent forces, we conclude either that the two countries have no intention of meeting their obligations under Article 6 of the NPT, or that they believe that for reasons beyond their control the provisions of Article 6 will never actually apply. In either case, the only option open to the two countries if they decide to keep their nuclear capabilities, and to persevere in their joint research undertakings, is to accept that the NPT has fallen into abeyance and to withdraw from it. This of course would pave the way for the unravelling of the NPT and open the floodgates for other non-nuclear weapons states to acquire nuclear weapons; but that is the inevitable consequence of the 50-year-long failure of the nuclear-armed countries to respect Article 6 of the Treaty.
We have worked as an organization with many partner organizations in France belonging to the ICAN network of associations. Together with them we would like to suggest an alternative basis for cooperation between our two countries, and a different route for protecting our security and prosperity. We believe that France and the United Kingdom are the nuclear-armed countries best-placed to seize the initiative in making use of the moral, political and diplomatic opportunities which the TPNW offers. It is often argued that our possession of nuclear weapons guarantees the “status” of our two countries in a world where our historical pre-eminence has faded, and in which we are now middle-ranking powers only. We would argue that were our two countries to lead the way as nuclear-armed countries signing the TPNW, and to commit to genuine reduction and then elimination of our arsenals, our moral leadership and our standing in the world would be greatly enhanced, and the countries having voted for the TPNW – two thirds of the countries of this planet – would welcome us as partners in building a better and safer world.
Beyond our close collaboration on these issues with our partners in France, our English, Scottish and Welsh peoples, and we personally, are bound by relationships of friendship and solidarity with France and with its people. We look forward to fostering a deep and close cooperation with your citizens and scientists, dedicated to the security, safety and prosperity of our nations and of the fragile planet on which we live.
We urge you and the French government – as we do our own government – to renounce the Teutates programme and to invest instead in a mutually beneficial cooperation of real relevance to the many shared challenges which we face.
Please be assured, Mr. Macron, of our citizenly concern and of our most respectful sentiments.
For Trident Ploughshares,
Marc Morgan and Angie Zelter
[1] http://www-teutates.cea.fr/pdf/plaquette-epure-fr.pdf, p.6