BERLIN (dpa-AFX) – According to CDU foreign policy expert Armin Laschet, the question of a European nuclear protective shield is not of the highest urgency. It is right not to make any topic taboo. “But the first thing we have to discuss now is how we can get German participation in a nuclear weapon, I believe, is not a priority for the Chancellor, for me, or for anyone else,” said Laschet on the ARD program “Caren Miosga”. The question will not be decided in the next few weeks or months. Laschet referred to more pressing issues – such as spending more money on defense and strengthening the economy.
Merz is holding talks with Macron
Chancellor Friedrich Merz (CDU) said on Friday at the Munich Security Conference that he had begun initial discussions with French President Emmanuel Macron about European nuclear deterrence. In 2020, Macron had already offered the Europeans greater cooperation on nuclear deterrence based on France’s nuclear weapons. The then Chancellor Angela (CDU) Merkel and her successor Olaf Scholz (SPD) were skeptical about this.
Laschet explained that the topic is complicated. “The question is who makes the decisions in the end. And Macron always logically has the idea, based on French domestic politics, that only the French president and no one else,” said the CDU politician. “He will not give the German Chancellor a say in this nuclear armament.” Laschet also said that the more intensively the Chancellor would now discuss the issue, the more it would affect the USA that Germany would renounce the American protective shield.
The Foreign Minister is also skeptical
Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul also expressed caution. “To be honest, there are enough nuclear weapons in the world, and we have to think hard about whether we always need new ones,” said the CDU politician in the ARD program “Report from Berlin”. In addition, France and Great Britain, as European NATO partners, already had nuclear weapons. There is also the American protective shield, which no one in Washington questions./bg/DP/mis