'Deployment of US Long-Range Missiles' in Germany Faces Opposition from Ruling Party Public Opinion

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Opposition is rising within Germany's ruling party regarding the plan to deploy US long-range missiles in Germany.

On the 29th (local time), according to the daily Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ), six politicians including Norbert Walter-Borjans, former leader of the ruling Social Democratic Party (SPD), stated in an open letter that "there needs to be internal party discussion on whether our densely populated country will become a target of (Russia's) nuclear first strike."

Sigmar Gabriel, former Foreign Minister and former SPD leader, also emphasized in an interview with Rheinische Post on the same day that "the issue with all European nuclear strategies is that once weapons are used, Central Europe and Germany will always become the battlefield of retaliatory strikes."

The SPD is the main party of the traffic light coalition government, to which Chancellor Olaf Scholz and Defense Minister Boris Pistorius belong. Within the party, a minority opinion is emerging that calls for a turning point in the ongoing Ukraine war, which has lasted three years, and a reconsideration of the hardline anti-Russia policy.

Rolf M?tzenich, SPD parliamentary leader, demanded a review, saying, "While we must strengthen our defense capabilities in the face of the Ukraine war, we must not overlook the risks of deploying long-range missiles."

Earlier, the German and US governments announced at the NATO summit on the 10th that US-made medium- and long-range missiles such as Tomahawk and SM-6 will be deployed in Germany starting in 2026.

In response, Russia threatened to resume deployment of medium- and short-range missiles, which had been suspended since the 1987 Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF) between the former Soviet Union and the US. The US declared the treaty void in 2019 during the Donald Trump administration, citing Russia's violation of the agreement.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.