BERLIN, January 23. /TASS/. The chair of the European Parliament’s Committee on Security and Defense, Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann (Free Democratic Party of Germany), has called for the return to Germany of gold reserves stored in the United States. She cited the unpredictability of the policy of US President Donald Trump’s administration as justification for such a step.

"In times of growing geopolitical uncertainty and amid the unpredictability of US President Trump’s policies, there is no longer any basis for 37% of Germany’s gold reserves, over 1,230 tons, to be stored in the vaults of the Federal Reserve in New York," Strack-Zimmermann told Spiegel magazine.

According to her, this was justified during the Cold War, but today the geopolitical situation has fundamentally changed. "Mere faith in the reliability of a transatlantic partner [the US - TASS] cannot replace sovereignty in the sphere of economics and security policy," she added.

The politician urged the German government to develop a plan as soon as possible for the return of gold reserves from the US to Germany, as well as to prepare an evaluation of the political and legal risks of storing these assets abroad. "The Bundestag [parliament - TASS] should hold a special session to discuss the future of our reserves and the guarantees of our economic independence," Strack-Zimmermann said.

According to the publication, earlier the former head of the research department of the Bundesbank [Germany’s central bank - TASS], Emanuel Monch, stated that the German Central Bank should examine the issue of returning gold reserves to the country. Germany has stored part of its gold reserves abroad for decades, a practice dating back to the era of the so-called German economic miracle, the rapid recovery of the country’s economy after World War II in the 1950s and 1960s. Between 2013 and 2017, the country repatriated part of its reserves from New York and Paris. Currently, half of the reserves are held at the Bundesbank, with the remaining portion stored in New York and London.