Forget Iran, what about Germany getting the nuclear bomb? That is what current parliamentary leader of the CDU-CSU faction, Jens Spahn, proposed in an interview yesterday with Welt am Sonntag.... “Europe must become capable of deterrence,” said Spahn. “We need to talk about German or European participation in the nuclear arsenals of France and Great Britain, and possibly also about our own participation with other European states,” he said.
Even if this quickly triggers “defensive reflexes,” there needs to be a debate about an “independent European nuclear umbrella,” Spahn insisted. “And that can only work with German leadership.” Russian aggression is creating a whole new threat situation. “Those who cannot deter with nuclear weapons become pawns in world politics.”
Spahn might be motivated by the need to distract public attention from a report, published in the latest days, on how money was spent procuring very expensive masks during Covid, when Spahn was Health Minister.
However, his Dr. Strangelove-like proposal has spurred a polarized debate. While he is criticized by SPD partners, he got approval from the AfD. The AfD Defense speaker Rüdiger Lucassen outdid Spahn. Nuclear sharing of American nuclear weapons is in question, and there will be no participation in French or British nuclear weapons, he said. “A German nuclear weapons program is, therefore, the logical consequence.”
