In the current election campaign in Germany, surprisingly little attention has been paid to foreign policy, and especially to the FRG’s relations with Russia, Ukraine and Belarus. This topic was not touched upon during the three televised debates of the leading candidates for the Chancellor’s office from the Conservatives, Social Democrats and Greens, and played rather a secondary role in the discussions of key figures in small parliamentary parties.
Foreign policy of Germany: the most important task is to strengthen the European Union
Therefore, the moderators of the last pre-election debate, broadcast live on the evening of September 23 by the public-legal TV channels ARD and ZDF, decided to make foreign policy and the role of Germany on the world stage one of the main topics. Moreover, this time the leaders of all seven German parties who have a real chance to overcome the five percent barrier and get seats in the next Bundestag have gathered in the studio. About a third of the one and a half hour program was devoted to foreign policy issues.
The first question in this block concerned France, which lost a multibillion-dollar order for nuclear submarines after Australia reoriented to defense cooperation with the United States and Great Britain. Both of the most promising candidates for the Chancellor’s post, Social Democrat Olaf Scholz and Conservative Armin Laschet, have declared that they are fully on the side of Germany’s largest EU partner and advocated further strengthening the European Union and increasing its international role. …
Election posters of the two main candidates for the post of chancellor – Armin Lashet and Olaf Scholz
In this they were supported by both the candidate for Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany from the Union 90 / Greens party Annalena Baerbock, who emphasized the need to “open a new chapter in the EU’s foreign and human rights policy”, and the Free Democratic Party (FDP) Chairman Christian Christian Lindner – The Liberal leader has focused on developing the EU’s internal market as an “engine of economic growth.”
Relations with Russia have been reduced to “Nord Stream-2”
At some point, the moderators asked the participants of the program to answer short questions only yes or no. Christian Lindner was asked: “Should Ukraine join NATO or not?” His answer is “No.”
Armin Lashet got the question: “Should we commission Nord Stream 2?” “Yes,” he replied, but then he could not resist and gave a detailed explanation of his position.
Leaders of the conservative CDU / CSU bloc Markus Zöder (left) and Armin Laschet
First, the leader of the CDU, the party Angela Merkel, largely repeated her repeated arguments: “We need this economic project, because if we refuse other sources of energy, we will naturally need gas in the coming years. so that what the German government had agreed on would now be implemented, namely: a geopolitical guarantee was given that it would not harm Ukraine. ” However, he then added: “If Russia questions this, the project will be immediately stopped.”
This is all that was said during the last pre-election televised debates on the topic of relations with Russia, Ukraine and other post-Soviet states. A distinctive feature of the program was that a significant part of the time in the foreign policy bloc was devoted to the future course towards China.
Relations with China: Finding a Balance Between Values and Interests
The toughest position was taken by Annalena Berbock. She believes that the excessive restraint of the current German government and the absence of a unified line of the European Union contributed to the emergence of a foreign policy vacuum, which was filled by “authoritarian forces – not only China, but also Russia.” The leader of the German Greens criticized the intention to conclude an investment agreement with China and demanded: “We need a common European policy towards China.” She backed up her conclusions by referring to the position of the Federal Association of German Industrialists and Entrepreneurs (BDI), which more than two years ago called on the EU to fight China’s expansion.
Annalena Burbock, Olaf Scholz and Jeanine Wissler (left to right)
Christian Lindner noted that he is also critical of the investment agreement with China: “We should equally defend our interests and our values.” He is outraged by the Chinese dumping and the fact that companies from the PRC can buy enterprises in Germany, while European firms are deprived of such rights and opportunities.
A similar position is shared by Markus Söder, Prime Minister of Bavaria and chairman of the CSU, which acts at the federal level as a single bloc with the CDU. When asked what he would say to workers in Munich if they were affected by Berlin’s tougher approach to cooperation with China, he replied: “.
Zöder – for a constructive dialogue “without hugs, but also without teachings.” China is, according to him, the most important market for Germany, not only for German automakers, and therefore a “strategic balance” in the relationship is needed so as not to endanger millions of jobs in Germany.
Positions of right-wing and left-wing populists
The leader of the populist Alternative for Germany (AfD) Alice Weidel recalled that the United States and the People’s Republic of China (she repeated this official name of the state several times during the broadcast) are “our largest export markets”, and therefore “need good relations with both countries. ” She warned that the PRC has become too important for Germany and will become even more important, and therefore should not “brandish the club.”
Leader of the Left Party Janine Wissler said, answering the question of the moderator why her party members rarely criticize the Chinese authorities, that “we naturally care about the rights of workers and trade unions – both in China and in those German enterprises that have in China business is going well. “
Thus, the lengthy and sometimes very emotional pre-election TV discussion clearly showed that the leaders of the German parliamentary parties, like the political elite of the United States, are increasingly focusing on building relationships with China, while cooperation with Russia, which is traditional for the FRG, recedes into the background and loses its former significance. …
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