"The Cold War is over. It's time to adapt our nuclear policy to the new circumstances," wrote Claes, fellow former Belgian foreign minister Louis Michel and former prime ministers Jean-Luc Dehaene and Guy Verhofstadt in joint statements which appeared in several Belgian daily newspapers.

In the text, entitled "Towards a world without nuclear arms," the four signatories stressed that "President Barack Obama's pledge to work to eliminate all nuclear weapons deserves urgent support.

"The US tactical nuclear weapons in Europe have lost all military importance," they said.

"We call on our (Belgian) government to follow the example of the German government and to call in NATO for a rapid withdrawal of the nuclear arms," the four added.

Current NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen has warned against any unilateral moves to get rid of US nuclear arms in Europe.

"I hope that any step will take place in the alliance in a multilateral framework and that no unilateral step be taken," Rasmussen said in November.

"This is a question which concerns all allies. It's a question of overall security and defence," he added after reports emerged of Germany's move.

According to experts there are around 20 nuclear warheads, for airborne delivery, housed at the Kleine Brogel Air Base in northern Belgium.

There are a similar number in Germany, after the withdrawal in 2004 of 130 atomic bombs.

Italy and Turkey house about 90 each.

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