ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on setting up the conditions of the immediate security or, in other words, the mechanisms of the system of nuclear dissuasion. Dissuasion par constat is indeed a reliable basis for European security. The constat — statement — is based upon several inescapable concatenations. Four independent nuclear powers would lock any potential aggressor out of the European strategic sphere. A closely overlapping network of links of all kinds, mainly economic and political, should be woven among all European powers, nuclear and nonnuclear. Being inextricably linked, European countries benefit from the sphere of security naturally provided by any nuclear power. An "agreed statement of facts" lays the groundwork for a sphere of security common to the whole of Europe. European security must become a strong pole endowed with a specific strategic role onto which others could fasten freely, if they wish to do so.
