, German Defence Minister Franz Josef Jung has spoken out in support of U.S. plans for a missile defense shield in eastern Europe that have triggered a rift with Russia.
Germany was mindful that the threat of rockets being launched against Europe was real and growing, Jung said in the Handelsblatt economic newspaper March 26.
“With a foreseeable increase in the number of long-distance attack missiles we should be thinking of our national security interests,” Jung said.
The U.S. insists that the shield is aimed at intercepting warheads from rogue states like Iran.
But Russia sees plans to locate part of the shield in Poland and the Czech Republic as a sign of intimidation and has warned its old Cold War enemy that it would come up with a “highly effective response.”
Germany, as current European Union president, has sought to calm the tensions but the issue appears to be dividing the country’s ruling left-right coalition.
Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier, a member of the Social Democrats, has warned the U.S. that Europe does not want another arms race.
Jung insisted however there was no discord within the cabinet.
“I assure you that in the cabinet, we agree on this,” he said.
Conservative Chancellor Angela Merkel has urged Washington, Warsaw and Prague to discuss the issue within NATO and to hold direct talks with Russia.
Parts of the shield are already in place in the U.S., Britain and Greenland, and Pentagon officials say the plan is to have the system operational by 2011-12.
