Leading politicians from the Social Democrats, a partner in Germany's ruling coalition, have called for scrapping all US nuclear weapons in the country, but the other parties remain opposed to such a move.
Members of German Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservative Christian Democratic Union (CDU) have scorned a recently renewed call by politicians from the junior partner in the coalition, the Social Democratic Party (SDP), to withdraw US nuclear arms from German territory.
According to him, the Social Democrats forget “that US nuclear weapons are primarily for our protection” and, if the politicians persist with their calls, “our international partners will doubt Germany's ability to fulfill its role in the future, within the transatlantic security scheme.”
The comments by SPD politicians were deplored not only by the CDU but also by the Free Democratic Party (FDP).
The spokeswoman added that Germany must quickly decide on a successor to the Tornado aircraft currently used by Germany's military if it was to fulfill its responsibilities as part of the alliance.
The escalating debate around the presence of US nuclear arms in Germany was recently reignited when two senior figures in the Social Democratic Party talked of the need to scrap the American weapons.
His view was echoed by the party's co-president Norbert Walter-Borjans.
‘Incalculable Risk'
Mutzenich justified his call largely by referring to the revised US nuclear…