2024-03-29 15:56:03
The federal government wants to ramp up the arms industry. Robert Habeck is now picking up the pace with a meeting in his ministry. And emphasizes how sensitive the topic is.
In the end it’s enough for a little joke. “Now I can’t leave my notes here,” says Robert Habeck and smiles as he leaves the lectern after his press statement. “It’s all classified.” So top secret. A little humor when the situation is so serious.
Because what Habeck spoke about before is highly sensitive, he emphasizes that himself. It is literally about life and death, about war and peace. Specifically, the question is: How can the arms industry produce more weapons and ammunition so that Germany and Europe can become defensible?
Big meeting in the ministry
The Vice Chancellor and Economics Minister invited representatives of the security and defense industry to his ministry on Wednesday, the “whole spectrum from submarine builders to digital start-up companies,” as he says. The Chancellery, the Ministry of Defense, the Ministry of Finance and the Foreign Office also sit at the table with state secretaries or department heads. So a big round.
Talking about these topics is not easy, says Habeck himself. Everyone wishes they didn’t have to do it. But that’s not possible, says the Vice Chancellor. “The world threat situation has changed,” he says. “Not reflecting on them would be naive at this point. And naivety is forbidden.”
Habeck quickly makes it clear what this ultimately means for him: “If we look at Russia, we have to see that we also increase the production of goods that increase the country’s security capability in Germany and Europe.” These industries are needed at this time.
Habeck expects people to do something
Habeck is aware of how sensitive the debate about rearmament is, especially in Germany. He obviously doesn’t want to be deterred by this. It is important, he says, that there is public space for questions, concerns, scruples and fears. But you shouldn’t stop there. “The political imperative of the hour is to become security-capable. We are working on that. We’ve stepped it up even more as of today.”
There is a certain tradition that Habeck is willing to expect something from people when it comes to weapons. As early as 2021, he called for arms deliveries to Ukraine, at the time when he was still in the opposition as leader of the Green Party.
Not only did his own party scream in disbelief, defense politicians from the CDU/CSU and FDP also did the same at the time. A certain Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann said that the conflict could not be solved with weapons. Mind you: This all took place before Vladimir Putin began his war of aggression to fully invade Ukraine on February 24, 2022.
Exactly a week ago, Habeck said again what some others only think. At the “Europe 2024” conference, the Vice Chancellor said that Europe must “do its own homework on defense.” The arms industry must be ramped up and operational scenarios for national defense reactivated.
Habeck said they disarmed after 1990. An army was only considered necessary for “military police operations” abroad. “But we are not prepared for the fact that land war has suddenly returned again. And that’s what we have to do.” A land war? And we’re not prepared? For some, that was too much honesty.
Not “warworthy”, but “security capable”
This Wednesday, Robert Habeck prefers to avoid such vocabulary. The meeting is delicate enough. When asked by a journalist, he also did not want to join Defense Minister Boris Pistorius from the SPD, who has been saying for some time that Germany must become “war-ready”.
On Wednesday, Habeck preferred to talk about having to become “security-capable”. Also because for him it encompasses more than traditional national defense. Namely, the ability to defend ourselves when dealing with disinformation or the protection of critical infrastructure such as hospitals and cybersecurity.
Not just tanks and ammunition. But explicitly also tanks and ammunition.
After the round table with the arms industry, Habeck did not reveal in detail how exactly production should now become faster. “The sensitivity of the topic means that we cannot be too specific about what follows.” That is also top secret. But there are “specific work orders”. And further meetings in a similar format, the next one in the Ministry of Defense.