Germany still seems to find it hard to believe. Could it really have to do without the American nuclear umbrella, which has protected it unconditionally since the post-war period? By publicly asserting that his country should prepare for this, against a backdrop of great uncertainty about the future of the relationship between Berlin and Washington, Friedrich Merz, the likely future chancellor, has opened up a sensitive and unpopular debate in Germany, which politicians traditionally prefer to avoid. Since then, elected representatives, columnists and experts have confronted each other with their questions and doubts, betraying a widely shared sentiment: a reluctance to mourn the loss of American protection.
"We have to be prepared for the fact that Donald Trump will no longer accept the NATO [North Atlantic Treaty Organization] treaty's promise of assistance without restrictions," Merz told ZDF television two days before the parliamentary elections on February 21. This implies, he continued, discussing with the British and French "whether nuclear sharing, at least the nuclear security from Great Britain and France, could not also be claimed for [them]." France had often put this question to Germany, he said. It "has always remained unanswered by German governments," he said.
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