Germany’s chancellor-elect, Friedrich Merz, has expressed openness for talks with France and the UK on sharing nuclear weapons, but not as a substitute for US nuclear protection of Europe, Reuters reported on Sunday.
“Sharing nuclear weapons is an issue that we need to talk about …we have to become stronger together in nuclear deterrence,” the report quoted the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) leader as saying in an interview with Deutschlandfunk radio.
“We should talk with both countries (France and Britain), always also from the perspective of supplementing the American nuclear shield, which we of course want to see maintained,” he reportedly said.
Notably, the election in Germany took place amid strained relations between the European Union and the United States with President Donald Trump adopting a sharp policy change on Russia-Ukraine war.
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