By IRNA,
Berlin : German Green legislators Thursday called on the government of Chancellor Angela Merkel to do everything possible to stop the controversial US-Indian nuclear accord.
Today’s meeting of the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) in Vienna which is chaired by Germany is the “last chance to divert a severe crisis of the nuclear non-proliferation regime,” said the disarmament spokesman of the Green parliamentary faction, Winfried Nachtwei in a press release.
The 45 members of the NSG which sets international export control guidelines, have reportedly begun discussing a proposal by the United States for an exemption for India, which presently cannot receive foreign nuclear materials and technology as it has not signed the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).
Nachtwei warned that the NSG’s acceptance of the American-Indian nuclear agreement would “undermine the NPT’s credibility.” The federal (German) government is urged to prevent the “severe damage of the NPT in the Nuclear Suppliers Group,” the MP said.
Failure to act on the issue would also jeopardize German-led efforts to strengthen NPT, he added.
Several countries among them Austria, Ireland, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Switzerland and Scandinavian countries were to propose amendments to the US draft during the two-day NSG meeting in Vienna which clearly spell out which non-proliferation conditions India has to meet if it wants to receive foreign nuclear supplies.
Political observers in Berlin expect the center-right German government to give green light to the deal after all, in an effort to avoid a new round of tensions with the US.