The German government has been forced to deny it is interested in acquiring nuclear weapons amid calls for it to lead a European “nuclear superpower”.

“There are no plans for nuclear armament in Europe involving the federal government,” a spokesman for Angela Merkel said.

The highly unusual statement comes amid growing calls for the European Union to invest in its own nuclear deterrent in the wake of President Donald Trump’s comments that Nato is “obsolete”.

Jaroslaw Kaczynski, the head of Poland’s ruling party, told a German newspaper this week he would “welcome an EU nuclear superpower”.

A senior MP from Mrs Merkel’s Christian Democrat party (CDU) has called for Germany to press for a European nuclear deterrent.

Spiegel magazine has questioned whether it is time for Germany to acquire its own nuclear weapons.

And the Financial Times has called for Germany to “think the unthinkable” on the issue.