Continuing our commentary series exploring different European perspectives ahead of the 2026 NPT Review Conference, Carmen Wunderlich writes that Germany’s current policy towards the NPT reflects not only a change in tone but also a gradual shift in priorities towards pragmatic measures such as risk reduction and confidence-building, while multilateral disarmament seems to have lost political salience.
President Trump’s recent statement about the US resumption of nuclear testing has heightened concerns over a renewed arms race and the erosion of the global norm against nuclear testing enshrined in the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT). This new policy brief from the ELN’s Protecting the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty project argues that the CTBT reinforces the NPT by bolstering the nuclear non-proliferation norm and constraining the development of new nuclear warhead types: sustaining it is a strategic imperative. States Parties to the NPT must work together to strengthen the CTBT’s credibility and relevance to international security and prioritise collective multilateral action over short-term security gains.
The world today stands closer to nuclear catastrophe than at any point since the end of the Cold War. Conflicts involving nuclear-armed states could all too easily escalate to a nuclear confrontation, as global arms control treaties collapse. Steve Barwick, Chair of the Nuclear Education Trust, calls for the UK, as the chair of the group of five ‘official’ nuclear weapon states in the run-up to the 2026 NPT Review Conference, to reject nuclear sharing and prioritise transparency, reinvigorate global nuclear diplomacy, adopt a no-first-use policy, and engage with the TPNW.
The current debate around a possible resumption of nuclear testing introduces a new level of brinkmanship in an already fraught geopolitical climate. As the testing moratorium risks being weaponised for great-power competition, ELN Senior Policy Fellow Julia Berghofer writes that European states, including nuclear-armed ones, must speak with one voice and make clear that nuclear testing is unwise, unnecessary, and unwelcome.
Following recent signals between the US and Russia over the possibility of renewed nuclear testing, we asked members to reflect on what this could mean for the broader global non-proliferation and arms control regime.
Engaging China on multilateral arms control, disarmament and non-proliferation has become more urgent, but also more difficult. Even in times of increased competition between China, Russia, and the US, Europeans have agency and will need to up their level of ambition in pursuing their own interests in making multilateral instruments more resilient. ELN Policy & Research Director Oliver Meier and Michael Staack call for focused, substantive, and flexible dialogues between Europeans and Chinese.