BERLIN, February 18. /TASS/. German Chancellor Friedrich Merz has assured that the country would not develop its own nuclear weapons.

He emphasized the need to respect the international agreements signed by Germany - the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) and the Four Plus Two agreement. According to Merz, Berlin cannot unilaterally abandon the latter, while withdrawing from the former is possible only in theory and would take time. "But for me, that’s not an option. I don’t want Germany to consider acquiring its own nuclear weapons," Merz said in an interview with the Machtwechsel podcast.

The German chancellor also noted that Berlin was ready to discuss with Paris and London a potential European nuclear umbrella within the framework of NATO. In his view, Germany could provide its fighter jets to be equipped with French or British nuclear missiles. However, the chancellor emphasized that there were still a lot of unresolved issues in this regard. "We are at the very beginning [of discussions]. The only thing that has happened so far is the German chancellor telling the French president ‘Let’s discuss it,’" Merz added.

He also noted that these discussions are not new, as former French President Charles de Gaulle (1959-1969) had suggested to former German Chancellor Konrad Adenauer (1949-1963) to expand the French nuclear umbrella to West Germany. "Adenauer rejected the proposal. [French President Emmanuel] Macron, for his part, has already proposed this twice. Both my predecessors rejected the proposal. Their position is understandable, given the context of their time. But times have changed. I would like to at least discuss France’s proposal. I don’t know if anything will come of it. But I believe that such a proposition by the French side cannot be overlooked at this time," the chancellor said.