Berlin, Feb 2 (.) German politician Sahra Wagenknecht has denounced growing calls for her country to shift towards acquiring nuclear weapons, condemning the idea as utter “madness”, warning that such a pursuit would put both Germany, and the entire Europe in jeopardy.
Under international obligation, Germany is barred from developing nuclear weapons, particularly due to being a signatory of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons and the Two Plus Four Treaty, the 1990 agreement that paved the way for German reunification in exchange for strict limits on its military capabilities, especially the renunciation of nuclear arms.
However, the changed geo-political scenario in the last few years has caused Berlin to reconsider its defence policies, seeking greater autonomy and self-reliance in its defence.
While not actively developing a bomb, Germany has the technology for nuclear weaponisation, with the defence establishment, particularly conservative politicians within the CDU/CSU and certain security experts, now actively debating the acquisition or development of nuclear capabilities primarily as a contingency against a potential collapse of the US security umbrella and increasing Russian aggression, despite Moscow repeatedly rejecting claims of having any intention of attacking Europe.
Earlier this month, Kay Gottschalk, a senior lawmaker from Alternative for Germany (AfD), openly argued that Berlin “needs nuclear weapons,” saying Europe could no longer depend on American protection alone.
Reacting to those remarks, Wagenknecht — a former Bundestag lawmaker and founder of the Bündnis Sahra Wagenknecht party — wrote on X on Sunday that support for nuclear rearmament was spreading across party lines.
“The cross-front for the nuclear rearmament of Germany is growing,” she said.
“After AfD politicians pushed for a German nuclear weapon, CDU warmonger Roderich Kiesewetter and former Green foreign minister Joschka Fischer are now also calling for Germany’s participation in a European atomic bomb. What madness.”
Fischer said last week that Europe must pursue nuclear rearmament, with Germany taking a leading role. Kiesewetter, meanwhile, suggested Berlin could contribute financially to a European nuclear umbrella being discussed by countries such as Finland, Sweden and Poland, rather than developing its own weapons.
Wagenknecht warned that any move by Germany toward nuclear arms would constitute a serious breach of international law and further erode the global nuclear arms control regime.
She also raised alarms over planned deployments of Washington’s intermediate-range missiles on German soil, noting that such weapons could strike deep into Russian territory.
“The missile deployment undermines the nuclear balance between the U.S. and Russia and massively increases the danger that Germany would become a target of a nuclear strike in the event of conflict,” she wrote.
Instead of rearmament, Wagenknecht urged Berlin to take the lead on diplomacy and disarmament, calling for the removal of US nuclear weapons from Germany altogether. “US atomic bombs out! No U.S. intermediate-range missiles in Germany!” she wrote.
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