Berlin  - Spanish Foreign Minister Miguel Angel Moratinos called on the German Navy Tuesday to contribute to a joint hunt for pirates on the Somali coast, where they have been kidnapping ships' crews for ransom.

Moratinos, who was accompanying King Juan Carlos I on a visit to Germany, said German warships currently deployed to the Horn of Africa should team up with Spanish and French vessels to fight piracy.

However the German Navy says Germany's constitution prevents it from going to war against pirates.

Defence Minister Franz Josef Jung suggested to a committee of parliament on Wednesday that Germany amend its constitution.

Members of the Committee on European Affairs said there was agreement between government and opposition parties that this was a reasonable suggestion.

The UN Security Council approved on Monday international incursions into Somali territorial waters to fight the pirates, whose current victims include a Gibraltar-registered, German-owned freighter, the MV Lehmann Timber. (dpa)