Germany

The German government has consistently opposed the idea of a treaty banning nuclear weapons. Opposition parties Grüne and Linke favour German adherence (bit.ly/2krGFfn), and support for TPNW keeps growing in the German Parliament. 166 federal parliamentarians have signed the ICAN Parliamentary Appeal. A new cross-party working group on the TPNW (Parlamentskreis Atomwaffenverbot) was established in September 2019 (bit.ly/2ojf2GU). Three federal states and almost 50 cities have signed ICAN's Cities Appeal, including Berlin and Munich.

• Germany should ensure that nuclear weapons do not have a role in its national defence plans and security policies. It should renounce the retention and potential use of nuclear weapons on its behalf, for instance through a declaratory statement, and refrain from endorsing future alliance statements in support of weapons of mass destruction.
• Germany should urgently sign and ratify the TPNW, and encourage other states to adhere to the Treaty. Until it is in a position to do so, it should – in line with its obligations under the NPT – welcome the TPNW as a valuable contribution towards the common aspiration of a world without nuclear weapons, attend its meetings of states parties as an observer, and work with its states parties on practical steps towards disarmament.