Berlin could be moving away from its historic reliance on American nuclear weapons. Reports in the English-language press suggest that German defence officials are quietly contacting their British and French NATO counterparts to prepare an alternative to the American nuclear umbrella.
Potential American disengagement from Europe has put pro-NATO governments on edge across Europe. Unease about future changes at the White House is now driving the German government to formulate plans for obtaining nuclear weapons. Senior members of the centre-right CDU and ruling SPD call for a common European nuclear deterrent, ending sole reliance on the U.S.
German elites are still reeling from comments made by Trump on the campaign trail this month saying he would not respect Article 5 commitments to defend a NATO member under attack unless the country had fulfilled its financial obligations to the alliance, adding to calls for a more autonomous European pillar to NATO.
Currently governed by a disastrous liberal-left government under Chancellor Scholz, Germany has been inching towards remilitarisation since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Electoral pressure caused by the rise of the populist AfD draws on hostility to Ukraine policy, aggravated by the effects of sanctions on Germany’s economy and geopolitical standing alike.
While Scholz and other high-ranking German ministers (including Minister of Defence Boris Pistorius) have vetoed nuclear armaments for now, other politicians are urging Berlin to rethink its reliance on American nukes. Liberal Finance Minister Christian Lindner tested the waters on a common European nuclear shield in an op-ed published last month.
“Let us not deceive ourselves: as long as there are nuclear weapons in the world, Europe will also have to adhere to a system of nuclear deterrence in order not to be defenceless at the mercy of the blackmail of authoritarian states” Lindner declared, commending recent German deployments to Lithuania and push for a common EU defence policy.
Western Germany has long been an American military bastion. An estimated 20 nuclear weapons are already stationed at Büchel Air Base in Germany. The issue of nuclear weapons on German soil has historically been a major rallying point for the anti-NATO Left and Right, despite the Green Party dumping its historic opposition to militarisation.
The potential lurch towards nuclear weapons comes despite Germany being party to treaties on nuclear non-proliferation. Experts estimate the country’s industrial and scientific prowess would give the country nuclear weapons in a relatively short period of time if required. Ironically, Germany last year closed its last nuclear power plant, thereby completing the phasing out of the peacetime use of nuclear technology.
Polling shows greater sympathy towards nuclear weapons in Germany in light of the war in Ukraine, with a majority of German citizens now supportive of their presence.
While Germany is front and centre in a drive for a common EU defence policy, the concept of Eurocrats getting access to nuclear weapons was too much for some German MPs, who shot down the idea at a meeting of the Bundestag Defence Committee earlier this month.
The German Ministry of Defence did not respond to press inquiries about the rumoured plans at the time of publication.
