As of: February 14, 2024, 12:22 p.m
By: Sonja Thomaser
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After Trump's statements about NATO, Katarina Barley and Christian Lindner want nuclear support independent of the USA.
This triggers harsh criticism.
Update from February 14th, 12:22 p.m.:
Doubts about US military support after Donald Trump's election victory are fueling the debate about Germany's defense capability - including a common nuclear deterrent in Europe.
Defense Minister Boris Pistorius (SPD) and Defense Committee Chairwoman Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann (FDP) have warned against a frivolous debate about the NATO nuclear shield.
Federal Finance Minister Christian Lindner has spoken out in favor of more cooperation with France and Great Britain on nuclear deterrence.
© Sebastian Gollnow/dpa
Pistorius told the television channel
Welt
: “I can only warn against starting such a discussion with such carelessness just because Donald Trump, who is not even a presidential candidate, is making such statements that, by the way, if he were to implement them, he would , would cause serious damage to transatlantic relations.” Trump would thus “ultimately saw off the branch on which America is sitting.”
The transatlantic alliance is not a one-way street.
Strack-Zimmermann on Barley's EU atomic bomb: "She has no idea what that means"
Strack-Zimmermann, who is the FDP's leading candidate for the European elections, referred to the SPD European candidate Katarina Barley on
Deutschlandfunk
on Wednesday , according to whom the question of the EU's own nuclear bombs could arise.
"I don't want to offend Ms. Barley, but I don't think she has any idea what this ultimately means," the defense expert said.
In addition to Barley, Strack-Zimmermann's party leader, Federal Finance Minister Christian Lindner, also spoke out in favor of more cooperation with France and Great Britain on nuclear deterrence.
“French President Emmanuel Macron has presented various offers of cooperation,” wrote the FDP chairman in a guest article for the
Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ)
.
“We should see Donald Trump’s recent statements as a call to further rethink this element of European security under the NATO umbrella.”
After Trump's NATO scandal: Barley sees EU nuclear bomb as an "issue"
First report from February 13th:
Brussels - The SPD's leading candidate for the European elections, Katarina Barley, doubts that Europe is still protected by the US nuclear umbrella.
“In view of Donald Trump’s recent statements, we can no longer rely on this,” Barley told the
Tagesspiegel
on Tuesday (February 13).
When asked whether the EU needed its own nuclear bombs, the SPD politician replied: “On the way to a European army,” “that could also become an issue.”
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Europe has a duty if the USA fails as an arms supplier
The nuclear deterrent for Europe currently lies with NATO.
However, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg correctly remarked that it was still in the USA's interest to “provide this significantly”.
If the USA were to stop being an arms supplier to Ukraine in the future, Barley sees Europe as having a duty.
“If this really happens, Europe will have to take on this responsibility,” she said.
“We have to take Putin’s threats seriously and behave accordingly.
When Putin publicly doubts the territorial integrity of Poland and Lithuania, it shows how vigilant we must be.”
Trump would encourage Putin to attack defaulting NATO member states
Trump caused international consternation at the weekend with his announcement that he would not protect defaulting NATO allies in the event of re-election.
On Saturday, Trump reported on an unspecified meeting with NATO partners at a rally in the US state of South Carolina: “One of the presidents of a major country stood up and said, 'Well, sir, if we don't pay up and we get attacked by Russia 'Then will you protect us?'”.
Trump responded by saying that in this case he would not protect the country and would even encourage Russia to do “whatever the hell they want” with the country in question.
(AFP)