Ayhan Şimşek
13 August 2024•Update: 13 August 2024
BERLIN
Chancellor Olaf Scholz has received backing from his party’s executive committee for the deployment of long-range US missiles in Germany, but armed with conventional not nuclear warheads.
The Social Democratic Party’s (SPD) Executive Committee passed a resolution late Monday stating that the planned deployment starting in 2026 would strengthen European security amid growing threats from Russia.
“This step is a reaction to Russia's blatant violation of international law in Ukraine, and takes into account the threat posed by Russia's massive rearmament in recent years, particularly in the area of medium-range missiles,” the resolution said, referring to the Ukraine war, which started some 2 1/2 years ago.
According to the three-page resolution, US long-range missiles will be stationed exclusively in western Germany, and they will not be armed with nuclear weapons.
“The weapons will be equipped with conventional warheads and stationed at existing US military facilities in western Germany. Nuclear armament of the systems is not planned,” the resolution stated.
The Social Democrats reaffirmed that Germany will continue to comply with its legal obligations under the “Two Plus Four Treaty” which was signed in 1990 between the then-West and East Germanies, the Soviet Union, Britain, the US, and France.
Under the agreement, which paved the way for Germany’s reunification, no foreign armed forces or nuclear weapons could be deployed in the eastern German states after the withdrawal of Soviet forces.
Chancellor Olaf Scholz announced last month that Berlin and Washington have started working on the deployment US long-range missiles in Germany, arguing that this would close a capability gap for protecting Europe in the face of Russia's threats.
The plans include the deployment of SM-6 missiles, Tomahawk cruise missiles, and developmental hypersonic weapons, which have a significantly longer range than current land-based fires in Europe, according to a joint statement of the US and German governments released during a NATO summit last month.
