Germany became the fifth European Union member to sign a statement adopted at the G20 summit in St. Petersburg, calling for "a strong response" to alleged chemical weapons attack by the Syrian government, Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle said Saturday.
"After we saw this excellent and very wise position of the European Union, the (German) Chancellor (Angela Merkel) and myself decided we support the G20 statement," Xinhua reported citing Westerwelle.
Germany signed the statement a day after refusing to do so at the G20 summit. Ten other countries, including the US, Britain, France, Italy and Spain signed the statement.
According to Westerwelle, Germany changed its stance after EU nations struck a joint policy during a meeting of foreign ministers here in the Lithuanian capital.
