The Western military alliance already has enough problems. Too little ammunition for Ukraine, the war is at a stalemate, with many casualties and no prospect of a negotiated settlement. And there is also the temporary suspension of American military aid, which Kiev urgently needs. writes Deutsche Welle (DW).
"The last thing we need is a debate about nuclear weapons", says the German Minister of Defense Boris Pistorius (SPD), explaining in front of the NATO headquarters in Brussels, with his eyes fixed on Berlin, that it is a "complex discussion that should not be started just like that".
His coalition partner, Christian Lindner from the FDP, will probably make an announcement on the matter. But also Pistorius's party colleague Katarina Barli, the SPD's main candidate for the European elections, who spoke openly about the "European atomic bomb".
"Sleeping NATO"
The Secretary General of NATO also believes that such "new openness" towards the atomic bomb is completely misplaced. If something has worked so far, it is nuclear deterrence, Jens Stoltenberg responded at a meeting of defense ministers. "We shouldn't undermine that credibility" - especially since America's nuclear shield for Europe is virtually the only thing not yet called into question in the Trump team's strategic documents.
The Europeans are in fact facing a completely different problem, the problem of conventional defense, warns political scientist Jana Puglierin. She fears that the Americans could put their involvement in Europe on ice. Puglierin, the head of the Berlin office of the think tank "European Council on Foreign Relations" (ECFR), points to the document "Sleeping NATO", which was developed by the right-wing think tank "Center for the Reconstruction of America", which implies that Washington could by denying resources and soldiers to "sleep" the Alliance in Europe. "The point is that Europe's conventional defense would have to be guaranteed only by Europeans," she says.
The backbone of Europe's defense would be broken, Puglierin says. American soldiers would be withdrawn from Europe, and with them skills such as reconnaissance, airlift and rapid deployment of combat troops with large reserves of ammunition. Basically everything that "most European armies lack", says Puglierin.
There is almost no coordination in procurement
That deficiency should be eliminated by massive armament. During the war in Ukraine, there was an unprecedented increase in defense spending in NATO member states. According to Alliance data, 2024 billion dollars will be invested in 380 alone, and almost two-thirds of the member countries will allocate at least two percent of their GDP for the military this year.
However, money alone does not solve the problem, Puglierin fears. Cooperation will be difficult as long as national governments have the ambition to produce their own tanks, submarines and howitzers. "European procurement coordination barely works," even if national defense budgets are increased. "The national reflex takes precedence," he says.
The US expects the EU to support Ukraine more
A European tank for everyone - that is still a thing of the future. Right now there is a big hole that needs to be filled. US Ambassador to NATO Julian Smith says that she cannot predict when the US will send $60 billion in military aid to Ukraine. "We know that our friends in Ukraine need urgent help," she said in an interview with German public broadcaster ARD. And she made it clear what America hopes and expects: that this time the Europeans will step in. "I think the support is coming from Germany, but also from the European Union - so people in Ukraine can feel on the ground that the help will continue."
Those are high expectations. And an unusual situation in NATO. The USA, the strongest military power in the world, is unable to push through Congress the promised military aid - and that under Biden, a president who is absolutely transatlantic oriented. It gives Europeans a taste of what could become permanent if Donald Trump moves back into the White House.
