The recent noisy debate on an independent nuclear deterrent is unwanted among leading policy circles in Germany, which include some wild articles in leading German newspapers, such as the Sunday, Feb. 11 issues of Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung and Welt am Sonntag, as well as features by former German foreign ministers Sigmar Gabriel and Joschka Fischer, to name a few. Most of this talk is around the claim that, if Donald Trump wins the presidency, he will withdraw from NATO.
Even Germany’s otherwise hard-line Defense Minister Boris Pistorius warned on the Germany TV program “Welt” against starting a debate on an independent nuclear deterrent for Europe.
The foreign policy expert of the ruling Social Democratic Party, Bundestag member Ralf Stegner told Tagesspiegel on Feb. 13 that to open such a debate was an “extremely dangerous escalation…. There is no need for a European nuclear power—it would be the opposite of European security.”
