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Ex-Defense Minister Suggests Germany Build Possession of Nuclear Weapons

Posted on: Friday, 27 January 2006, 09:00 CST

Ex-defense minister suggests Germany build possession of nuclear weapons

BERLIN, Jan. 26 (Xinhua) -- Germany may need to develop its own nuclear weapons to counter nuclear threat from a terrorist state, a former defense minister said Thursday.

"We need a serious discussion over how we can react to a nuclear threat by a terrorist state in an appropriate manner -- and in extreme cases with our own nuclear weapons," Rupert Scholz, who was defence minister from 1988 to 1989, said in an interview with the Bild newspaper.

Berlin should firstly try to get binding guarantees from the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) that it would protect Germany from being attacked by nuclear weapons, said Scholz, a member of Chancellor Angela Merkel's Christian Democratic Union.

If such guarantees could not be inked in a formal NATO doctrine, Germany needed to consider building its own nuclear deterrence system, said the former minister, who admitted that his suggestions were breaking a national taboo.

Building nuclear weapons would violate the 2+4 Treaty, which paves the way for the 1990 German unification as the United States, Britain France and former USSR ended their occupation rights in Germany.

According to the treaty, Germany gives up "the manufacture and possession of and control over nuclear, biological and chemical weapons."

Scholz's remarks sparked sharp criticism from Rainer Stinner, a member of the opposition Free Democratic Party.

He said, "If we start questioning international treaties, what right do we have to demand others adhere to them?"

Germany's security would be reduced rather than increased by possessing nuclear weapons, Stinner added.

French President Jacques Chirac said last week that Paris could use nuclear weapons against state sponsored terrorists if they attacked France.

His remarks have drawn worries and criticism in Europe, including Germany.

Source: Xinhua News Agency - CEIS

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