Dutch call for an end to the deployment of US Tactical Nuclear Weapons grows louder

Wilbert van der Zeijden and Susi Snyder, IKV Pax Christi

There is little confidence that the NATO Defence and Deterrence Posture Review (DDPR) will deal with the divisive issue of the deployment of US nuclear weapons in five non-nuclear weapon states in Europe. Word on the Brussels streets is that the DDPR will – at best – entail a proposal to Russia to talk about transparency on numbers and locations of both the Russian and US tactical nuclear stockpiles. More than this watered down consensus is apparently impossible, because a few countries are blocking reduction of numbers, relocation to the US or the end of nuclear sharing altogether. 
 
That said, the April 12 debate on NATO in the Dutch parliament raises the question as to how relevant the DDPR formulation really is for US nuclear weapons deployed in Europe. As Dutch political parties are starting to realise that NATO is again failing to address their concerns, they also realise that the ‘rule’ of consensus decision making within NATO on such matters is not a formal requirement. Some of them have started to call for a fixed date to end the deployment of B61 tactical nuclear weapons, and to go around NATO-consensus if necessary. Read more in the attached pdf.