The hardest verdict on Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer falls this Tuesday, the SPD Group Chairman Rolf Mützenich: He denies the seriousness of what the Secretary of Defense Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer has demanded the evening before.
He had learned from the media about the idea of the CDU chairmen to create a security zone in northern Syria, said Mützenich in the afternoon before the meeting of his group. It would have been on Sunday evening, a "quite interested circle", the Kramp-Karrenbauer could have informed, sneers the Social Democrat - there sat the tips of Union and SPD in the coalition committee together. There they talked in detail about the situation in Syria after the withdrawal of US troops. Kramp-Karrenbauer, says the SPD faction leader, must "finally arrive in the Cabinet".
That's exactly what the Secretary of Defense had in mind when she revealed her plans to dpa and then to several TV channels on Monday evening, one day before the ceasefire between Turkey and the Kurdish fighters in northern Syria expired. As a consequence, Kramp-Karrenbauer's proposal would mean nothing less than a turnaround in German foreign policy.
Söder apparently completely unaware
The argument of the CDU politician: The situation in Syria severely affected the security interests of Europe and Germany, so the time must be over as "Zaungäste". Kramp-Karrenbauer pleads for "creating an internationally controlled security zone, including Turkey and Russia, with the aim of de-escalating the situation there". Regarding the way in which the Bundeswehr is involved, Parliament must decide to present the plans on the margins of the meeting of NATO defense ministers in Brussels on Thursday and Friday. In the afternoon session of the Union faction, Kramp-Karrenbauer made it clear that the end of this political process could lead to a UN mandate.
The problem: Not only did the Social Democrats feel overwhelmed by the way they communicate. While Foreign Minister Heiko Maas at least got a text message in advance from his cabinet colleague, CSU boss Markus Söder was apparently completely unaware when he watched the television news on Monday evening: the chairman of the Bavarian sister party, the SPIEGEL from his environment, was informed by the CDU Boss not informed in advance. Söder is also of the opinion that the coalition committee had plenty of opportunity to talk about their idea on Sunday evening.
But Kramp-Karrenbauer chose a different route: the solo effort, a kind of practice maneuver.
She had agreed with the Chancellor, she emphasized. However, leading Union policy-makers were reportedly just as uninvolved as the leaders of the coalition.
Monika Skolimowska / DPA
Foreign Minister Maas (in the SPD parliamentary group meeting on Tuesday): After all informed by SMS
Political solos can be crowned with success in the end. But the risk of failure is greater - especially in a shaky coalition like that between the Union and the SPD, if not even their own ranks are closed. The accusation that it is more about the public impact than the implementation of an idea is obvious. Especially in the case of Kramp-Karrenbauer: As head of the CDU she has lost in recent months in authority, spotted in the office as Minister of Defense still little, their poll numbers are miserable.
On the other hand, the matter is actually too serious for a PR stunt. And the idea is not new at all: as early as 2016, Chancellor Angela Merkel recalled in the Union faction, plans for a protection zone in Syria had been discussed in the EU Council. Also the CDU foreign politician and Colonel a. D. Roderich Kiesewetter has repeatedly campaigned for this idea - last Wednesday in the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Bundestag.
German ground troops in Syria?
Some things speak for the proposal of a safety zone. But if Germany really should take the initiative for that? Because in the next step, the question arises: what could the Bundeswehr contribute to the construction of such a protection zone in northern Syria? So far, the Secretary of Defense has evaded the same answer as those who now come to her aid from within the Union. German ground forces in Syria - that would really be a paradigm shift that has always been ruled out.
Instead, the line in the Union for now is: Do not talk about the necessary steps that should follow. The President of the Union Council, Ralph Brinkhaus (CDU), and CSU Country Group Chief Alexander Dobrindt, all agree: They welcome Kramp-Karrenbauer's initiative - everything else will be seen. Chancellor Angela Merkel also supported the idea of her minister, according to participants in the group meeting. She called the proposal "very promising, even if many questions are still open".
The coalition partner SPD, however, are only negative votes, only in the tonality there are differences. Some attack Kramp-Karrenbauer hard, as Saskia Esken, one of the candidates for the party presidency: "The SPD is with us for military adventures of this kind with completely unclear political outcome not available," says the Bundestag, the primates together with Norbert Walter-Borjans. Kramp-Karrenbauer is doing foreign policy in the style of US President Donald Trump, Esken said.
Such polemics are not sent, contradict comrades from the parliamentary group: Kramp-Karrenbauer's alone speaks for itself. The CDU boss go in their attempt to make a profile, so dilettantisch before that the SPD must now keep a cool head. The maneuver is doomed to failure anyway.
Maas: Keep little of "SMS diplomacy"
As part of this strategy are also the statements of Foreign Minister Maas to understand. Kramp-Karrenbauer's initiative had triggered "a certain amount of irritation among our partners," says the SPD minister. He himself also has many questions - he says little about "SMS diplomacy", says Maas.
Despite all the irritation, the SPD is clearly trying to make Kramp-Karrenbauers solo no serious government conflict. Because potential for a coalition break would undoubtedly matter. So say goodbye to Maas and Vice Chancellor Olaf Scholz prematurely in the afternoon of the coalition meeting and met with Merkel and Kramp-Karrenbauer for a short-term discussion.
But when Scholz returns to the meeting of the SPD faction, the disillusionment is reportedly large: there is no common position of the Federal Government, Scholz is quoted by participants. Maas and he were "scared" of how little Kramp-Karrenbauer's initiative was prepared. One would have "thousands of questions" asked, all of which had not been answered.
Then the vice-chancellor, according to the descriptions basically: It is just "a great country that is governed here". And there is "a certain expectation, how to do that, if you have the command of the Bundeswehr," he said before the faction. Scholz's verdict: This expectation had not been fulfilled.
The quote circulated by him reads: "Class target not reached."
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