The shadow cabinet in the black‑red coalition is increasingly questioning whether the federal government can continue to allow unrestricted use of the U.S. airbase at Ram Schleinfurt for operations against Iran.
The SPD’s foreign policy spokesperson in the Bundestag, Adis Ahmetović, told the “Süddeutsche Zeitung” that the government’s review of the legality of the deployment is still unfinished. He said that, according to the SPD and most international‑law scholars, the attack on Iran is incompatible with international law. If the government were to reach the same conclusion, judges could potentially rule that Ramstein must be barred from use in that war.
Chancellor Friedrich Merkel’s administration, on the other hand, has so far opposed any restriction or revocation of the necessary overflight rights. The legal basis for using Ramstein lies in the 1954 “treaty of stay” that secures stationing rights; the reunification treaties confirmed the treaty’s survival, and it is further supported by NATO’s troop statute. A former assessment by the Bundestag’s Scientific Service indicated that while both the stay treaty and NATO’s statute can be terminated, the removal of the U.S. military presence cannot occur until a two‑year notice period has passed.
Sören Pellmann, deputy chairman of the Left (die Linke) in the Bundestag, told the newspaper that the party opposes use of Ramstein in order not to provide assistance to the U.S. and Israel’s unlawful war on Iran. Referencing the Scientific Service’s findings, Pellmann added that Germany could, in a manner compliant with international law, terminate the stay treaty unilaterally.