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The concept of NWFZ originated
during the Cold War, when the United States and the Soviet Union were locked in
a global political confrontation and nuclear arms race. The Soviet Union first
introduced the idea of a NWFZ at the United Nations General Assembly in 1956. At
that time, the Soviet Union tried to open discussions on the prohibition of
nuclear weapons within East and West Germany and other neighboring Central
European Countries. The Disarmament Subcommittee of the United Nations discussed
this proposal. However, the United States and other countries opposed the idea,
and the proposal was rejected.
In
1958, the Polish government proposed a NWFZ for Central Europe. The
plan was
named after the then-Polish foreign minister, Adam Rapacki. The zone
proposed in the Rapacki Plan included Poland, Czechoslovakia, West and East Germany,
along with a number of other European
countries, and aimed at the denuclearization of Central Europe. The Polish
government hoped this proposal would prevent the nuclearization of West Germany
and prevent the deployment of Soviet nuclear weapons on Polish territory. This
plan called for a ban on the manufacturing, maintaining, and
possessing of nuclear weapons in the proposed zone, as well as a prohibition
on the stationing and stockpiling of nuclear
weapons and nuclear weapons-related equipment, including missile launch
equipment, in the zone. NWS would also have been prohibited from using these
weapons against any territory in the zone. The plan also included the
establishment and operation of a control system for verifying compliance in the
denuclearized zone.
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Map of Europe.
Source: World Sites Atlas
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The security environment in Cold War Europe,
however, prevented serious negotiation of the Rapacki Plan. When the plan was
proposed, Poland was a member of
the Warsaw Pact and the proposal was therefore seen as an effort to strengthen
the Soviet Union's position in Europe. Given the conventional
weapon superiority of the Warsaw Pact forces at the time,
the North Atlantic Treaty Organization
(NATO) wanted to continue stationing nuclear weapons in West Germany as a
counter force. Although NATO countries did not accept the Rapacki Plan, several elements of this proposal served as guidelines for setting up
future NWFZs.
During the 1960s, there were other
attempts to establish a nuclear-weapon-free zone in Central Europe. For
instance, Romania proposed the denuclearization of the Balkans and the Soviet
Union appealed for the creation of a NWFZ in the Mediterranean. However,
neither proposal succeeded.
Northern European countries also made efforts
to establish a NWFZ. In 1963, Finnish President Kekkonen proposed the
establishment of a NWFZ that would have covered Denmark, Finland, Iceland,
Norway, and Sweden. While these countries shared many views on denuclearization,
they could not reach agreement on a NWFZ. Finland and Sweden took the strongest
stances against nuclear weapons among Northern European countries, declaring
that they would never accept nuclear weapons in their territories. However,
since
Denmark, Iceland, and Norway were NATO members, their security policies
conflicted with Finn and Swedish positions. Due to these conflicting
policies, Kekkonen's proposal was not successful.
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