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Security for Europe: We want and need NATO

2019-11-10T06:08:02.227Z


What role should Germany play in the Syria conflict, how can Europe continue to involve Britain as a foreign policy partner - and is France's head of state Macron right in calling NATO "brain dead"?



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The President of the United States withdraws his troops from northeastern Syria without involving his closest partners. Turkey intervenes without being impressed by warnings from Europe and the United States. The French President declares the brain death of NATO.

All of this happens within a few days, as if world history were running in fast motion. It raises fundamental questions - the reliability of our partners, the strength of our alliances, the security of our country, and the right path to the future.

Thirty years after the fall of the Berlin Wall, no end of history has occurred; The future seems more open, more unpredictable, more uncertain than ever. The East-West issue has long since ceased to be Washington's , but a matter of world politics - no matter who governs in the White House. That's the situation out there in the world. It is therefore good and right that Germany is discussing foreign policy these days.

What is it about now? It is no longer self-evident that we live in peace and security in Germany. In recent years it has been said time and again: Germany must take more responsibility for peace and security in the world. In this historic moment, we see that a second, even more urgent is this task addition, we need to take responsibility, to even keep our own security in Europe and Germany.

That is why the political question is central to what international framework we are building to preserve peace and security for Europe and our country in the future too. Three points are crucial here:

  • First, President Macron is right in putting a strong and sovereign Europe at the center of his thinking. In the future, we Europeans will have to assume much more responsibility for our safety. That is why, together with France, we are working hard to build a Europe that works much more closely together in security policy. The Aachen Treaty, the ever closer cooperation in the development of skills, the intervention initiative, the strengthening of civilian crisis management are milestones. Political caricature work lies ahead, especially in the forthcoming EU presidency.
  • Secondly , as we can best achieve the goal of a strong and sovereign Europe, we must find a common path with our French friends. For Germany it is clear: It would be a mistake if we undermined NATO. Without the United States, neither Germany nor Europe will be able to effectively protect themselves. This has recently made the Russian violation of the INF Treaty very clear. A foreign and security policy without Washington would be irresponsible, a decoupling of European and American security dangerous. For many years we will need NATO. It stands for burden sharing, for international cooperation, for multilateralism. And if one day Europe becomes able to defend its own security, then we should continue to want NATO. Yes, we want the strong and sovereign Europe. But we need it as part of a strong NATO, not as its replacement.
  • Third , we must not split the Europeans on the security issue. With Germany there can be no special ways, not towards Moscow and not in other questions. Our neighbors in Poland and the Baltic States can trust that we take their security needs as seriously as our own. Above their heads, the Europe we need will not succeed. On the contrary, our eastern neighbors would seek their future in a bilateralization of their relations with Washington. Therefore, yes, the strong and sovereign Europe is a project that Germany and France have written on the flag. But it is one in which we must not leave anyone behind.

In these dramatic times, we must remain on course for a powerful Europe - not as a successor, but as a motor for revitalizing the transatlantic alliance. Not just as a German-French project, but as a collaborative effort of all Europeans. Only then will there be real security for Europe. Germany as a country at the center of Europe must play a central, mediating and balanced role in this matter - in Europe and in relation to the United States. If we do not take this lead, nobody will. Being the voice of reason today is our most important foreign and security responsibility.

We are working on this very specifically - for example in the Ukraine crisis, by supporting the constitutional process in Syria, in the issue of the Iranian nuclear program, in stabilizing the violent Sahel zone, in the negotiations on a ceasefire in Libya.

An idea on which I work with my French colleague Jean-Yves Le Drian and which, for me, is at the heart of the German EU Presidency, exemplifies this course for me: the European Security Council.

No project for tomorrow, but an important landmark on the horizon. We need such a body as the place where Europeans pool their foreign and security policy work, within the institutional fabric of the European Union and beyond. Britain must be part of it, even if it leaves the Union. And Washington has to be an important partner. Here we can create the nucleus of the future European foreign and security policy that we need in stormy times.

Source: spiegel

All news articles on 2019-11-10

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