Nukewatch Quarterly Spring 2021
Kathrin Vogler, peace policy spokeswoman for Germany’s Left party confirmed March 3 that Tornado fighter jet operations at Büchel Air Base will be largely discontinued from June 2022 to February 2026, due to extensive construction work, and transferred to the Nörvenich airfield. Vogler said, “As far as we know, the approximately 20 US nuclear bombs stored at Büchel will remain at the air base during the construction phase. This means that German ‘nuclear sharing’ will de facto not take place for four years from 2022.”
Ms. Vogler said the pause invalidates the government’s “repeated claims that ‘nuclear sharing’ is an important part of NATO’s deterrence strategy. In fact, maintaining the nuclear weapons site at Büchel is pure symbolic politics — with high risks for the population.”
Urging other lawmakers to address real crises facing Germany, Vogler said, “We do not need nuclear weapons and we do not need a ‘modernization’ of the nuclear weapons site in Büchel. We need every cent in the coming years to secure the social future of the people in our country. … Therefore, the suspension of ‘nuclear sharing’ must become a phase-out. Now would be a good opportunity to do that. Germany must end nuclear sharing, and join the nuclear weapons ban treaty — and do it now.”
— Rhein-Zeitung daily, March 4, 2021
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