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Wants to talk to Macron about nuclear missiles: Federal Finance Minister Lindner in London

Photo: Sebastian Gollnow / dpa

If Donald Trump becomes US President again, who will guarantee Europe's military security? This question is fueling the debate about Germany's defense capability - including a possible common nuclear deterrent in Europe. The SPD's leading candidate for the European elections, Katarina Barley, had questioned the reliability of the US nuclear weapons protection umbrella and brought up the possibility of purchasing the EU's own nuclear bombs.

Barley received a lot of criticism for this - Federal Finance Minister Christian Lindner, on the other hand, believes a discussion about nuclear deterrence is appropriate. In a guest article for the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, Lindner spoke out in favor of more cooperation with France and Great Britain. “French President Emmanuel Macron has made various offers of cooperation,” wrote the FDP chairman. "We should see Donald Trump's recent statements as a call to further rethink this element of European security under the NATO umbrella."

Lindner deviates from Scholz's line on nuclear deterrence

In doing so, Lindner deviates from the previous line of Chancellor Olaf Scholz, who has so far rejected a debate about a change of course in NATO's nuclear deterrent. This is currently based almost exclusively on US nuclear weapons. Great Britain and France are the only two other NATO states that have such weapons systems. Macron had already offered Germany and other EU partners talks about European cooperation on nuclear deterrence in 2020 - so far without much response.

Former US President Trump said during a campaign appearance that he would not protect NATO partners who did not invest enough in defense from Russia in an emergency. He would “even encourage Russia to do whatever the hell they want.” This questioning of NATO's duty to provide assistance triggered a wave of indignation. Trump wants to run for president again in November.

Scholz made it clear again on Monday evening - after Trump's threats - that he was relying on the current NATO deterrent system. »We have a functioning NATO, a very good transatlantic partnership. This also includes what we have developed in terms of nuclear cooperation," he said at a press conference with Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk in Berlin.

Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said after the meeting with Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) that the French President's offer of a possible Europeanization of nuclear weapons should be taken "really seriously."

The Union faction calls on Scholz to position himself

SPD politician Barley told the “Tagesspiegel” on the question of whether the EU needed its own nuclear bombs: “So that can also become an issue on the way to a European army. Her statement was met with decisive criticism from the Bundestag. The statement raises "doubts about her political intelligence," CDU foreign expert Johann Wadephul told SPIEGEL about Barley. »Is that the position of the federal government and the SPD? How is this supposed to be achieved given Germany's international legal obligations? Has this been agreed upon with France, which already has nuclear weapons?” asked the CDU/CSU MP. The current deterrence of American weapons can hardly be replaced by a comparable EU arsenal.

Traffic light politicians are similarly critical. SPD MP Ralf Stegner warned against rearming “for better or for worse,” “especially not in the nuclear sector.” "We should neither act as if Trump has already been elected - the American people are not obliged to be stupid - nor as if we could now take on the role of the USA," Stegner told SPIEGEL.

The Green defense politician Sara Nanni warned of new global armament as a result of an EU nuclear weapons program. »If she meant that the French and the British should be merged: that is naive. None of the nations would do that,” said Nanni. The Greens instead appealed for a common European industrial base for conventional defense equipment.

Finance Minister Lindner expressed skepticism in the “FAZ” about calls to significantly increase the special fund for the Bundeswehr. "By strengthening our economic dynamism, we will have to make it easier for us to mobilize more money for defense spending in the next few years," said Lindner during a visit to Dublin.

Germany does not have its own nuclear weapons and has never sought nuclear weapons. However, the Federal Republic has agreed on so-called “nuclear sharing” with the USA. In the event of war, German fighter jets fly US nuclear weapons to their targets.

lpz/dpa/Reuters