Germany has left Emmanuel Macron waiting for some time now. On several occasions, the French president proposed talks with Germany on nuclear deterrence in Europe with the help France's nuclear weapons. Until recently, he has been rebuffed.

That is now changing. The leader of the conservative Christian Democratic Union (CDU), Friedrich Merz, likely to be the next German chancellor, is ready for dialog. With Donald Trump in the White House threatening to withhold US military defense for its European allies, the situation has changed dramatically.

Germany has lived under the US nuclear shield for decades. Up to 20 US nuclear weapons are stationed at a Bundeswehr airbase in Büchel in the state of Rhineland-Palatinate. Only the US president has the code to release them.

However, the Bundeswehr supplies the fighter planes that would fly them to their targets in an emergency. "Nuclear sharing" is what NATO calls this jointly organized nuclear deterrence with US weapons, and which also extends to other European countries.

The "Two Plus Four Treaty" signed in 1990 after German reunification stipulated that Germany was not allowed to have its own nuclear weapons.

Two surveys, conducted in early March by pollsters Forsa and Civey, showed 31% and 38% of Germans were in favor of Germany arming itself with nuclear weapons. That's still a minority, but has grown by several percentage........

© Deutsche Welle