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On 26 February the foreign minister Guido Westerwelle (FDP), together with foreign ministers from Benelux states and from Norway, issued a letter to the NATO secretary general Anders Fogh Rasmussen with a motion to put the debate on the withdrawal of American arms from Europe on the agenda of the NATO summit to be held in April 2010 in Tallinn. Westerwelle’s initiative implements the claim included by the Liberals in the coalition agreement that demands the withdrawal of American nuclear arms from Germany. more »
On 8 March the Czech historian Kristina Kaiserova resigned from her position in the scientific council of the Foundation Escape Expulsion Reconciliation in protest against the manipulation of history and too much emphasis being put on the suffering of Germans in World War II. In response also Helga Hirsch (a journalist and Erika Steinbach’s proponent who was in charge of the council’s work) left the council. more »
The demand to expel immigrants from Germany is not an incitement to hatred between nations – such was the conclusion drawn by the German Constitutional Court in Karlsruhe on 4 March. The judges decided that the statement „Auslaender raus!” (“Foreigners get out!”) would have to have been accompanied by “additional circumstances” in order to be considered a crime. more »
Germany is interested in enhancing its impact on the establishment of the foundations of an EU diplomacy, with a particular focus on its personnel. This constitutes an element of policy that is a priority for Germany and that aims at increasing the presence of Germans in EU institutions. more »
At the end of February, the EU Commissioner for Energy Guenther Oettinger promised that a draft directive regulating the safety of the storage of radioactive waste from reactors would be prepared in 2010. The directive is expected to set the safety rules for waste production and storage, for example by imposing on EU member states the requirement to create storage facilities for long-lived radioactive waste. Oettinger’s aim is to convince public opinion that the usage of nuclear energy does not pose any threat, which goes in line with the interests of the German government as the latter wishes to extend the period of operation of the reactors. more »
