The lead candidate for Germany’s Social Democratic Party in the EU elections and European Parliament Vice-President Katarina Barley has sparked a debate at a national level about the EU building its own nuclear arsenal after former US president Donald Trump said NATO allies did not deserve protection if they failed to live up to their spending commitments.
In an interview with Der Tagesspiegel on Tuesday, Barley (SPD/S&D) questioned the reliability of US-led nuclear protection for Europe amid the current debate about Europe’s ability to defend itself without the security of the United States.
“In view of Donald Trump’s latest statements, [such protection] can no longer be relied on,” said Barley.
“On the way to a European army, [the EU’s need for nuclear capabilities] could also become an issue,” she added.
At the moment, nuclear deterrence in Europe is in the hands of NATO, meaning the EU relies on the protection of the US nuclear arsenal, she also said.
Over the weekend, Trump remarked that he would not come to the aid of NATO partners who did not meet their defence spending obligations if Russia attacked them – a comment that caused an outcry on the European political scene, but many also saw his comments as a campaign move.
However, Barley’s consideration of acquiring nuclear warheads under the EU administration caused a similar backlash across the board in Germany.
Even German MP Ralf Stegner, a member of Barley’s party, told spiegel.de that the idea of nuclear armament was “hazardous and irresponsible”.
“We should neither act as if Trump had already been elected – the American people are not obliged to be stupid – nor as if we could now take over the role of the US,” he added.
One of the SPD’s coalition partners, the Greens, was also surprised by the idea. Speaking to spiegel.de, Anton Hofreiter, chairman of the European affairs committee, questioned the whole concept: “What should a command structure look like, and who decides on its deployment?”
Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann (FDP), the lead candidate of the German Liberals in the EU elections and a strong supporter of a European army, reminded spiegel.de that if the US were to fail as a protective power, France would have a nuclear umbrella.
These reactions leave the German government’s position unclear.
As a result, the opposition in Germany has called on Chancellor Olaf Scholz to clarify the issue. “Is this the position of the federal government and his [Scholz’s] party?” asked Johann Wadephul, a CDU/CSU parliamentary group member, in the Tagesspiegel.
Others went a step further. Martin Schirdewan, co-leader of the Left group in the European Parliament, said: “Barley seems to have had one too many Kölsch beers at the carnival. More nuclear bombs won’t make the world safer”.
(Kjeld Neubert | Euractiv.de)
Read more with Euractiv
Von der Leyen: Putin sped up EU green transitionSpeaking at the 50th anniversary of the International Energy Agency (IEA) at the OECD on Tuesday, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and French Economy Minister Bruno Le Maire said Vladimir Putin’s war in Ukraine had forced the EU to speed up its energy transition.
Source: euractiv.com
