On the subject of Germany: US Congress wants to get rid of Trump - Söder pokes at the US President

Will the US soldiers not be withdrawn from Germany after all?

The US Congress has now come to an agreement and blocked Donald Trump's plans.

• Donald Trump's *

  plans to partially withdraw US soldiers from Germany met with criticism from Democrats and Republicans.

• Now the parties in the

  US Congress have

  agreed

  on a legislative package - thereby blocking the massive withdrawal.

• The Congress continues to value Germany as a strong

  NATO partner

  .

Update from December 4, 1:05 p.m.:

On the subject of

all

,

opposed

parties: They want to block the withdrawal of a noticeable part of the US troops from Germany - to the delight of

(CSU).

"A reversal of this order would be exactly the right signal for the transatlantic partnership," said the

on Friday of the

.

The

ordered by Trump, who has since been voted out,

would have been a strategic mistake and counterproductive for cooperation in NATO.

"We would be happy if the American soldiers stay in Bavaria."

The

(SPD) also welcomes the

.

Lewentz emphasized that he had always relied on the foresight of leading American military experts in the Senate and the House of Representatives.

Many of them have raised massive concerns about the Trump announcement from the start.

After the withdrawal plans became known, he had had numerous conversations with long-term contacts in the Pentagon, Congress and Senate as well as in the local headquarters.

US Congress opposes Trump: Democrats and Republicans want to stop troop withdrawal from Germany

+

A US soldier stands in Kleinfalz near the Grafenwoehr training area in front of a mobile tactical situation center of the US Army.

(Archive)

© Armin Weigel / dpa

First report:

Washington - The

wants to

block the massive withdrawal of American soldiers from Germany planned

by incumbent President

for the time being.

This emerges from the draft bill for the US defense budget, which Democrats and Republicans agreed in both chambers in Congress on Thursday (local time).

There it says that the

must state in a report to Congress whether such a withdrawal would be in the national interest of the US.

At the earliest 120 days later, the number of US soldiers stationed in the Federal Republic may fall below the limit of 34,500.

Members of the Democratic-controlled

and the Trump Republican-dominated

agreed on Thursday on the more than 4,500-page legislative package on the defense budget for the coming year.

After being passed by the two houses of Congress in Congress, Trump must

the

for it to come into effect.

US troop withdrawal from Germany: Trump justified step with insufficient defense spending

Trump had a

in June

announced and justified the step with, in his view, too low defense spending in Germany.

A total of around 12,000 soldiers were to be withdrawn.

Trump's plans met with criticism from the military, but also from his own

.

In Congress, both the Democrats and Trump's Republicans announced opposition to the plans.

+

View of the Capitol at dawn on the day of the US presidential election.

© J. Scott Applewhite / AP / dpa

Regarding the planned withdrawal from Germany, the draft says that the Congress continues to value Germany as a strong

.

The presence of the "approximately 34,500 members of the US armed forces stationed in Germany" serves as an important

to Russia's expansionist efforts in Europe.

The US troops in Germany are also of central importance in supporting US operations in the Middle East, Africa and Afghanistan.

A few weeks after Trump's announcement, the now dismissed

made it clear that the plans should be implemented "as soon as possible".

A good half of the 12,000 soldiers should therefore be brought back to the USA, 5600 should be relocated to other NATO countries.

Three locations in Baden-Württemberg, Bavaria and Rhineland-Palatinate would be particularly hard hit by the plans: Stuttgart, Vilseck and Spangdahlem.

Video: What would a troop withdrawal mean for the locations in Germany?

Donald Trump has threatened

to block

the

with a veto - but this has nothing to do with the debate about the withdrawal of US troops from Germany, but with a dispute over the regulation of online platforms.

In the summer he had also

threatened to

the legislative package

in a dispute over a possible renaming of military bases

.

A presidential veto can be

overruled

with a

in the House of Representatives and Senate. The defense budget package is one of a series of bills that Congress intends to pass before the end of the year. The defense budget was passed with bipartisan support for 59 consecutive years.