Home » Greens want to change German foreign policy – Pierre Haski

Greens want to change German foreign policy – Pierre Haski

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If the coalition contract signed by the Social Democrats, the Greens and the Liberals is respected, we will have a resolutely European and multilateral Germany. The 177-page text contains all the keywords that Paris, Rome and Brussels will like: from “strategic sovereignty” to the defense of the rule of law “both inside and outside” Europe for a “democratically consolidated Union” .

Naturally, this is a formal agreement that will have to be subjected to practical tests and above all to unpredictable events such as the crisis with Russia over Ukraine, which awaits the government from the first day of work and could force it to pronounce itself on a delicate issue such as that. of the controversial NordStream2 pipeline between Russia and Germany.

The main novelty is the return of the greens to Auswaertiges Amt, the German foreign ministry, sixteen years after Joschka Fischer. Annalena Baerbock, leader of the Greens together with Robert Habeck, will become the head of German diplomacy, while the environmentalist deputy Anna Lührmann will deal with Europe. A green tandem that arouses great expectations.

Change towards Merkel
Often the Greens have harshly criticized the previous foreign policy. Minister Heiko Maas was a Social Democrat (the party of the new Chancellor Olaf Scholz) but in reality it was Angela Merkel who imposed her will in the most important cases.

Change is expected above all in relations with Russia and China. When in opposition, Annalena Baerbock had called for a more inflexible attitude towards these two important partners of Germany, and now she would like a policy dictated less by economic interests and more by values ​​and human rights. Baerbock has in the past criticized the investment deal with China concluded by Merkel and Emmanuel Macron a year ago on behalf of the European Union.

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This agreement has little chance of being ratified by the European parliament due to Chinese sanctions against some MEPs, but it will be necessary to verify how the new minister will manage relations with Beijing, which so far have seemed dictated by the weight of the car industry. If Berlin tightens the tone, Europe will have to adapt, starting with France.

The European enthusiasm of the coalition is such that the agreement is pronounced in favor of an evolution of the Union towards a “federal state”, an objective that few governments among the 27 are willing to pursue, starting with France.

The evolution in Germany worries the countries in conflict with Brussels about the rule of law. Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has already accused the coalition of being “pro-immigration, pro-gender and federalist”, declaring that he will fight it “with eyes wide open”. The relationship between the two countries promises sparks.

Joschka Fischer had been an excellent foreign minister, able to impose a realist turn on the German Greens in the 1999 Kosovo war. Now a new generation eager to make its mark is coming to power. In a world marked by the return of brutal power relations, the German Greens cannot afford any mistakes.

Translation by Andrea Sparacino.

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