German Chancellor candidate calls for nuclear defense talks
Photo: German chancellor candidate Friedrich Merz (Getty Images)
German chancellor candidate Friedrich Merz has called for talks with France and the United Kingdom about nuclear defense amid US threats to withdraw support for Europe, Tagesschau reports.
"We must prepare for the fact that Donald Trump will no longer fully honor NATO's security commitments. Therefore, Europeans must do more to defend the continent on their own," Merz said,
He highlighted the need to discuss nuclear exchange, which Germany currently has with the US, noting that in the event of war, German aircraft would deliver American atomic bombs to their targets.
Merz stated that the French government had repeatedly proposed discussing this matter with Germany, but past German governments had not responded. He also pointed out that France and the UK have much smaller nuclear arsenals than the US and Russia.
It’s worth noting that during his first presidency, Trump expressed skepticism about NATO as a collective force for security in the North Atlantic. European members spend little on defense and rely on the US security umbrella. Ahead of his second term, Trump reiterated these concerns, increasing pressure on NATO allies to invest more in defense.
Currently, only 23 of NATO’s 32 members meet the defense spending goal of 2% of GDP.
Meanwhile, during recent talks in Saudi Arabia, Russian officials requested that NATO troops be withdrawn from Eastern Europe. The US refused, but there are no guarantees that Washington won’t ultimately make this concession.
