Candidate for Chancellor of Germany from the opposition bloc CDU/CSU Friedrich Merz called for talks with France and Great Britain on nuclear defense. This is due to threats from the US administration to withdraw support for Europe.
Points of attention
- Friedrich Merz, a candidate for Chancellor of Germany, emphasizes the importance of negotiating nuclear defense with France and the UK due to the US administration's threats to pull support for Europe.
- The call for independent defense arises from a potential shift in the US president's stance towards providing assistance within NATO.
- France and Britain are open to discussing nuclear exchange, a topic that German governments have historically overlooked, whereas France has shown positive interest.
Merz called on Germany to take care of nuclear protection
We must prepare for the fact that Donald Trump will no longer fully accept the promise of assistance under the NATO treaty. Therefore, Europeans must do more to defend the continent on their own.
He noted that we need to talk about the nuclear exchange that Germany currently has with the United States. And in the event of war, German planes would deliver American atomic bombs to their targets.
According to Merz, the French government has repeatedly made an offer to the German government to discuss this issue. However, the German governments have never responded to it. And France and the UK have significantly fewer nuclear weapons than the US and Russia.
Recall that during his first presidency, Donald Trump was skeptical of NATO as a collective force that could maintain security in the North Atlantic. European members spend little on defense and use the security umbrella provided by the United States. On the eve of his second presidency, Trump voiced the same claims.
Trump has increased pressure on NATO allies to spend more on defense. So far, only 23 of 32 members have met the 2% GDP target.
