Cooperation between France and Germany in the field of nuclear deterrence is a “very long-term issue”, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said today in Berlin, in response to calls for Germany to take a leading role in building a European nuclear defense shield, DPA reported, quoted by BTA.
“We must do everything in our power to preserve nuclear sharing with the United States for years, if not decades,“, Merz stressed after a meeting with Luxembourg Prime Minister Luc Frieden.
The Chancellor indicated that he had accepted the French proposal to start negotiations on cooperation in the field of nuclear deterrence, but specified that “no further initiatives are planned at this stage“. According to him, the debate on the European nuclear umbrella will take time, as many issues remain to be considered and clarified.
Merz's statement came in response to comments by Jens Spahn, leader of the parliamentary group of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), Merz's ruling party. In an interview with the Sunday edition of the newspaper "Welt", Spahn called for a debate to be launched on the creation of an independent European nuclear umbrella under German leadership.
Germany is not a nuclear power, unlike France, Britain and the United States. However, the country has fighter jets capable of carrying American nuclear bombs, which are stored on its territory as part of NATO's nuclear deterrence strategy.
Since Donald Trump returned to the White House, concerns have been growing in Europe about the reliability of American nuclear defense in the event of a crisis, DPA notes.