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Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle met elder statesmen from Germany and the US

(© photothek/Thomas Trutschel)

Federal Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle met elder statesmen from Germany and the US who are working to achieve a world free of nuclear weapons. Westerwelle expressed his support for the commitment of the eight disarmament veterans, who include Richard von Weizsäcker and Henry Kissinger. Ahead of the Munich Security Conference, they are coming together for the first time with like-minded politicians from other European countries.

They all agreed that the changed threats facing the world meant that the importance of nuclear weapons had also changed. Two decades after the end of the Cold War, the aim had to be to move towards the vision of a world free of nuclear weapons through concrete disarmament steps, for example the conclusion of a follow-on agreement to START between the US and Russia. In this connection, the German Government was seeking in close consultation with its allies and partners to bring about the withdrawal of all nuclear weapons from Germany.

The initiative for the dismantling of all nuclear weapons was launched in 2007 by the US politicians Henry Kissinger, George Shultz, William Perry and Sam Nunn. In a Wall Street Journal article, they called for a world free of nuclear weapons and warned of the dangers of the growing proliferation of such weapons.

In Germany, former President Richard von Weizsäcker, former Chancellor Helmut Schmidt, former Federal Foreign Minister Hans-Dietrich Genscher and Egon Bahr took up this initiative and joined the call for a change of direction in nuclear policy.

Bold vision, concrete steps

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Nuclear test in the Nevada desert

(© dpa/picture-alliance)

After the meeting, Richard von Weizsäcker stressed that the “courageous declaration” which the four US politicians had issued across party divides had brought together elder statesmen – not only from Germany but around Europe – to counter the dangers of nuclear proliferation. “We are united by our concern, as well as by our obligation to determine how we can deal with nuclear threats in the future.” Ahead of the Munich Security Conference, politicians from seven European countries will therefore come together with the American disarmament veterans for the first time to coordinate their efforts towards nuclear disarmament.

It is important to the elder statesmen on both sides of the Atlantic that vision and concrete disarmament steps to hand in hand. Former US Secretary of State George Shultz stated that the goal of a world free of nuclear weapons was the motivation for progress on disarmament and that concrete steps on that road would transform the vision into a realistic goal.

Weizsäcker and Shultz emphasized that the American-Russian negotiations on a follow-on agreement to START were only a first step on the international disarmament agenda. Equally urgent was the question as to how the international community should deal with the proliferation of fissile material and the nuclear fuel cycle. An increasing number of states wanted to use nuclear energy. The question as to how use could be limited to peaceful purposes without triggering further proliferation of nuclear weapons required a global solution.