US Criticism
March 19, 2007
Politicians from the Social Democrats (SPD), Merkel's coalition partners, told German media over the weekend that US plans for a missile shield partly based in Europe could bring back the bad old days of the Cold War and its escalating arms race.
Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier, an SPD member, issued a thinly-veiled warning for Washington in the Sunday edition of the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung not to try to split Europe into "old" and "new" with its plans. The terminology brought back memories of the tensions unleashed by former US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld when he used those very terms in describing European support for the war in Iraq.
SPD Chairman Kurt Beck turned up the volume further when he urged the bloc to unite against a project Russia sees as an encroachment on its former sphere of influence and an attempt to shift the post-Cold War balance of power.
"We don't need new missiles in Europe," Beck told the mass-circulation Bild newspaper. It was another echo, this time of the heated debate in Germany during the late 1970s over the deployment of US Pershing medium-range nuclear missiles in Europe.
Under the current plan, the United States wants to deploy a radar system in the Czech Republic and 10 interceptor missiles in Poland by 2011 or 2012. It says the system is designed to counter threats from states like Iran and North Korea.
"The SPD does not want a new arms race between the USA and Russia on European soil. Europe must speak with one voice on this," Beck said.
Their criticism of the US plan comes a day before Steinmeier is due to travel to Washington for talks with US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on issues including the Middle East peace process and Iran's nuclear program.
Mounting concerns
The hard talk also comes amid mounting unease in party ranks with Germany's military commitments abroad, notably in Afghanistan, where the decision to sent Tornado reconnaissance jets to that country has met with strong resistance. There is also concern with Merkel's push to align Germany with Washington on key foreign policy issues.
Last week the top US missile defence official, Lieutenant General Henry Obering, was in Europe trying to ease concerns on the continent about the missile shield plan.
Merkel, who repaired transatlantic ties after her SPD predecessor Gerhard Schröder clashed with Washington over the Iraq war, has said she wants a debate on the missile shield within the NATO alliance but has stopped short of criticizing the United States outright.
She has expressed concerns that the row could overshadow Germany's presidency of the European Union, dividing the bloc and hurting her bid to revive the European constitution.
Merkel is also hoping for US support for her efforts to remove transatlantic trade barriers and forge a consensus on combating climate change within the Group of Eight (G8) industrial nations, where Germany is also president.
Merkel was forced into a coalition with the SPD after a narrow election victory in 2005.