EU nuclear arsenal ‘unrealistic’ – top German policymaker — RT World News

The European Union should not focus on trying to create its own nuclear deterrent, but should instead prioritize other means of ensuring its security, German Bundestag Defense Committee Chairwoman Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann said in an interview on Wednesday.

Her comments come after several German officials indicated that the bloc needs its own nuclear weapons, after US presidential candidate Donald Trump warned last week that Washington would not protect… “sinner” NATO members who do not contribute sufficiently to the bloc.

France is currently the only EU country with its own nuclear arsenal, while several other member states, such as Germany, Belgium, Italy and the Netherlands, host US nuclear weapons that remain under Washington's control.

Strack-Zimmermann has claimed that developing an independent European nuclear deterrent is an unrealistic proposal. “This is ultimately a sophisticated, sophisticated system in which everything is done [Western] “Europe must be protected.” She said this in an interview with German media, according to Politico “Most people don't know what that means — apart from the costs.”

She also noted that creating such a system would require the whole of Western Europe to work more closely together and would also require convincing both France and the UK to reach an agreement. “Sit at the same table” And for “Separate from the European Union and think about Europe.”

Instead, Strack-Zimmermann suggested that the EU should work to convince the United States of the importance of remaining involved in European security, and that it needs to prioritize building a common European army and a common cyber defense system.

Following Trump's “pay your bills” comment, German Finance Minister Christian Lindner stated in an op-ed that the E.U 'Adherence to nuclear deterrence' To ensure its security, it must rely less on the United States, and instead expand the strategic capabilities that France and the United Kingdom already possess.

Katarina Barly, a senior MEP for Chancellor Olaf Scholz's Social Democratic Party, insisted that the European Union could… “No longer depend on” The United States provides European NATO members with its nuclear umbrella “European bomb” It can become a step in creating “European Army.”

Meanwhile, the leading European Parliament candidate from Germany's Die Linke party, Martin Śrdiwa, advised against nuclear proliferation in response to Trump's comments. “More atomic bombs will not make the world safer.” He stressed that Germany should instead strive towards signing the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons.