Macron has twice offered exploratory nuclear talks in recent weeks but this was the first time he has said specifically that France might base some of the airborne component of its so-called “force de frappe” in other countries. 2/

Germany, Poland and other countries have expressed cautious interest in recent weeks in the widening of the French (and UK) nuclear umbrella while making it clear that their priority is to hold on to the US nuclear guarantee for as long as possible. 3/

Macron was pushed on what a Europeanisation of the French deterrent might mean during a marathon, three-hour live TV interview to mark his eight years in the Elyseé Palace. Would France be ready to base its nuclear warheads in allied countries, as the US does now? 4/

“We are ready to start that conversation as part of the talks now under way,” President Macron said. But he stressed once again that the French deterrent would remain French and that any decision on using nuclear weapons would be taken by the French President alone – not a committee of nations. 5/

In the foreign policy part of the interview on TF1, Macron was pushed hard on whether he considered Israel’s actions in Gaza - including its aid blockade - to be “genocidal”. He said it was historians to use such words, not politicians. 6/

Macron refused several times to use the word “genocide” but said that the Israeli government’s behaviour was “unacceptable” and a “disgrace”. He hinted that the EU might soon have to reconsider some of its commercial agreements with Israel. 7/

There had been much advance speculation that Macron would use the interview to make a big domestic policy announcement – an unprecedented, multi-question referendum on social policy issues in the Autumn. In the event, Macron was vague. 8/

He said he wanted to “organise a multiple consultation, in other words several referenda at the same time, in the months ahead on big economic, social, institutional and educational reforms”. But he would not be drawn on possible subjects or a date. 9/