HL Deb 22 January 1997 vol 577 cc57-8WA
Lord Kennet

asked Her Majesty's Government:

Whether the statement issued in the course of the NATO December meeting that NATO had "no intention, no plan and no reason" to deploy nuclear weapons in new member states is a commitment never to do so, and whether this statement differs in quality from the verbal statements that NATO would not be expanded eastwards, which were made in the context of the Soviet Union's agreement to the unification of Germany and the withdrawal of Soviet troops.

Baroness Chalker of Wallasey

The North Atlantic communiqué of 10th December made clear that enlarging the Alliance will not require a change in NATO's current nuclear posture—and that we do not foresee any future need to do so. As I made clear to the noble Lord in an Answer on 20th November, no British Minister ever made any formal undertaking to the Soviet Union that NATO would not expand eastwards.