German Chancellor Olaf Scholz ruled out the possibility of the European Union creating its own nuclear weapons, calling it unrealistic. Instead, he backed a proposal by French President Emmanuel Macron to discuss strengthening Europe’s conventional armed forces to support NATO.
About this informs The Economist magazine.
“It is clear that there will be no “EU nuclear weapons” – this is simply unrealistic, – believes the German chancellor.
Scholz noted that the EU does not intend to encroach on the sovereignty of the French nuclear force, but welcomes its “European dimension”. He stressed the need to discuss the right mix of capabilities to defend Europe, including conventional forces, air and missile defense, cyber and space capabilities, and precision strike missiles.
The chancellor also outlined major changes to Germany’s security and defense policy, including the creation of a 100 billion euro fund to modernize the army and the goal of turning the Bundeswehr into the strongest conventional armed force in Europe. He confirmed Germany’s commitment to spend 2% of GDP on defense and to deploy a permanent combat brigade in Lithuania.
Scholz assured that NATO does not seek confrontation with Russia and will not take steps that could make the alliance a party to the conflict in Ukraine.
