NATO boss reacts to statement European Mayors

December 8, 2007

Below is a reaction of NATO-boss De Hoop-Scheffer and Dutch Minister of
Foreign Affairs to the Op-ed of the Mayors for Peace marking the 20th
anniversary of the INF treaty.

Free translation of front page article in "Reformatorisch Dagblad", The
Netherlands, Saturday December 8th 2007

BRUSSELS/UDEN - NATO has "no plan" to change its nuclear policies. This was stated by NATO-boss Mr. De Hoop Scheffer last Friday in a reaction to a call by 8 European mayors who want the withdrawal of US nuclear weapons stationed on their territories.

The mayors demand this in an Op-ed which will be published in several countries, amongst which our newspaper. In six countries an estimated 400 US nuclear weapons are deployed. Today marks the 20th anniversary of the INF_treaty signed by US president Reagan and USSR leader Gorbatchev. With this treaty they promised to withdraw intermediate nuclear missiles. According to the mayors this process was halted. The signatories belong to the "Mayors for Peace, under presidency of the mayors Tadatoshi Akiba of Hiroshima. The Japanese city was destroyed by an atom bomb in 1945.

Remarkable is that the mayors accept the deployment of US nuclear weapons as a fact. They state that the 6 NATO countries, amongst which The Netherlands, have allowed "the deployment of US nuclear weapons on their territory". They call to follow the Greek example which withdrew all US nuclear weapons in 2001.

Also the Dutch mayor Ms. Kersten of Uden - with the airforce base of Volkel - is amongst the signatories. Last summer she stated in this paper that she officially has" no knowledge" of nuclear weapons on the airbase. Yesterday she added through a spokesperson that she had "nothing to add".

The mayors complain about the secrecy surrounding these nuclear weapons. The Dutch government for example "nor confirms or denies" the presence of the weapons. According to the mayors this makes it "difficult, even impossible to have an open and honest democratic debate".

NATO is "not planning to change its nuclear policies?, according to
secretary-general De Hoop Scheffer Firday in Brussels. ?I am afraid that I can not help the mayors? The official NATO-position is that the US nuclear weapons "contribute" to peace in Europe.

The Dutch Minister of Foreign Affairs reacted with reservation after the meeting with his NATO colleagues to the call: "At the end we all want a world without nuclear weapons. But so far they are legal and accepted. Thus far I can not meet the mayors' demand". The minister made it a point that he could not confirm "that there are nuclear weapons on the territory on the territory of Uden".