As of: February 14, 2024, 11:33 a.m
By: Helmi Krappitz
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Donald Trump's latest NATO statements cause doubts.
SPD politician Barley is now talking about the EU's own nuclear weapons - and sparking a debate.
Berlin – The debate about nuclear deterrence within the EU is in full swing.
Statements by the SPD's top candidate for the European elections, Katarina Barley, about the EU's own nuclear weapons led to a controversial debate.
She expressed doubts about the reliability of the US nuclear weapons shield.
“In view of Donald Trump’s recent statements, we can no longer rely on this,” Barley told the
Tagesspiegel.
Accordingly, the EU’s own nuclear weapons “could also become an issue on the way to a European army.”
“Whatever the hell they want”: Trump’s NATO statements make people sit up and take notice
The background to the debate is the statements made by former US President Donald Trump regarding NATO.
At a campaign event, he announced that he would not protect NATO partners who do not invest enough in defense from Russia in an emergency.
He wants to “even encourage Russia to do whatever the hell they want.”
The obligation to provide assistance stipulates that in the event of an attack on a NATO country, the allies must provide all forms of assistance in order to “restore and maintain the security of the North Atlantic area”.
The questioning of Trump's obligation to provide assistance to NATO led to outrage in the USA and Europe.
Especially because the ex-president wants to run again in the 2024 US election in November.
The SPD's leading candidate for the European elections, Katarina Barley, brought EU nuclear weapons into play after Trump's NATO statements - and sparked a debate.
(Montage) © Matt Rourke/dpa, Jonas Walzberg/dpa
“Thinking further under the umbrella of NATO”: Lindner deviates from Scholz’s line on nuclear deterrence
Federal Finance Minister Christian Lindner (FDP), like SPD politician Barley, advocated a rethink.
“Donald Trump’s recent comments we should
as a call to further rethink this element of European security under the umbrella of NATO,” he wrote in a guest article for the
FAZ
.
He is relying on cooperation with France and Great Britain.
French President Emmanuel Macron has already made various offers of cooperation, Lindner continued.
In doing so, Lindner deviates from the previous line of Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD), who has so far rejected a debate about a change of course in NATO's nuclear deterrent.
This is currently based almost exclusively on US nuclear weapons.
Great Britain and France are the only two other NATO states that have such weapons systems.
Nuclear deterrence in the EU: In addition to criticism, there was also encouragement from the Union after the Barley initiative
The Union faction, however, sees Barley's statements about possible EU nuclear weapons differently.
She demanded that Chancellor Olaf Scholz take a clear position.
“Since this statement comes from the former Justice Minister and the SPD’s recently elected top candidate, Chancellor Scholz must ensure clarity,” said Union parliamentary group vice-president Johann Wadephul (CDU) to the
Tagesspiegel
.
It is unclear whether this is also the position of the federal government and the SPD.
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The CDU politician also raised a number of questions: “How is this supposed to be implemented given Germany’s international legal obligations?
Was this agreed upon with France, which already has nuclear weapons?
Does the Chancellor think that the deterrence of American weapons can be replaced by a comparable EU arsenal?”
At the same time, however, the CSU's leading candidate for the European elections, Manfred Weber, appeared open to a European nuclear umbrella.
“Europe must become so militarily strong that no one wants to compete with us,” he told
Bild
.
“This means we need deterrence.
Nuclear weapons are part of deterrence.” It is the right moment to rethink the protective shield, “now that Donald Trump is openly questioning the role of the USA as a protective power,” Weber explained.
“Very dangerous escalation”: Internal party criticism of Barley’s EU nuclear weapons statements
According to her statements, Barley also has to put up with criticism within the party.
Speaking to the
Tagesspiegel,
SPD foreign policy expert Ralf Stegner classified the considerations about EU nuclear weapons as dangerous.
Nuclear armament in Europe or even Germany as nuclear power is not the right reaction to a possible re-election of Trump as US President.
Rather, it is “an extremely dangerous escalation of the situation in Europe.”
The Left also sharply criticized the SPD's top candidate's proposal.
“The right answer to Trump's nonsense is not nuclear armament, but a policy of de-escalation and civil conflict resolution,” said Left leader Martin Schirdewan to the
AFP
news agency .
More nuclear weapons would not make the world safer - "on the contrary, with all the atomic bombs that currently exist, you can wipe out the world more than 150 times," he continued.
Nuclear protective shield in the EU: France offers talks
After Trump's threats, Chancellor Scholz made it clear again that he was relying on the current NATO deterrent system.
“We have a functioning NATO, a very good transatlantic partnership.
This also includes what we have developed in terms of nuclear cooperation,” he said on Monday evening at a press conference with Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk in Berlin.
Germany is involved in so-called nuclear sharing by maintaining combat aircraft that would be able to hold nuclear weapons stationed in Germany in the event of an emergency.
After Great Britain's withdrawal, France is currently the only EU country with nuclear weapons.
French President Emmanuel Macron has already repeatedly offered Germany and other EU countries to hold talks on a new European nuclear deterrent.
So far there hasn't been much response to the vague offer - but that could possibly change soon given the upcoming US election and the Ukraine war.
(dpa/hk)