GERMANY/THE US: The US decision to pull out 70,000 troops from Europe and Asia could cost tens of thousands of jobs, according to German politicians. Derek Scally in Berlin reports
This week's announcement of a large-scale troop redeployment over the next decade will be a financial blow for all regions on the continent, where over 117,000 American soldiers are stationed, but nowhere more than in Germany, home to over 70,000 soldiers and 94,000 family members.
Together with South Korea, troops based in Germany account for over half of US soldiers permanently stationed abroad.
Mr Peter Struck, the German defence minister, said the redeployment would be a "heavy loss for many regions". He said the Pentagon had informed Berlin in advance of its plans, and added that Berlin and Washington would work closely to minimise the loss.
German army bases are concentrated in Germany's southern and south-western states, controlled by the US after the second World War.
The largest and best-known air base, Rammstein, will remain open though the number of military personnel there will be reduced from the current 9,000.
A recent study showed that Rammstein and another nearby base contributed around €1.4 billion to the local economy and supported around 27,000 jobs in the state of Rheinland-Palatinate. Around eight per cent of the state's land is devoted to US, German and French army bases.
American officials in Germany have been at pains to make clear that the Bush administration is not punishing Germany for its stance of political opposition to the Iraq war.
Instead they have reiterated the words of US President George W. Bush that the shake-up is necessary to meet the needs of a new world order and new threats posed by international terrorism.
Nevertheless state politicians there have criticised as "too vague" President Bush's Monday speech announcing the shake-up.
"The withdrawal of troops will have far-reaching effects for us," said Ms Pia Beckmann, mayor of the southern German city of Würzburg where the US army has invested tens of millions of dollars over the last decades.
"We have 6,000 soldiers and 3,000 relatives living with us. The army is an important economic factor for our city. If 9,000 people are suddenly no longer there, then they will missing as customers."
Officials in the town of Kitzingen in Franken, northern Bavaria, population 22,000, are worried that the withdrawal of the 7,400 soldiers will cost them €2.5 million in tax income.