Olaf Scholz, Annalena Baerbock, Kamala Harris: Which top politicians are coming to Munich at the weekend

Created: 02/17/2022, 20:28

By: Patrick Mayer

Munich Security Conference 2022: In the "Bayerischer Hof" (see excerpt on the left) international political celebrities come together at the weekend.

© IMAGO / Heinz Gebhardt

The Security Conference 2022 will take place in Munich this weekend.

Olaf Scholz, Annalena Baerbock and Kamala Harris as well as numerous other top politicians are there.

Munich – This weekend there is again a state of emergency in Munich.

No, in the Bavarian state capital, after two years of the coronavirus pandemic, there is no Wiesn again, the Oktoberfest, on the Theresienwiese of the same name.

Security Conference 2022: Olaf Scholz, Annalena Baerbock and Kamala Harris are coming to Munich

No, from February 18th to 20th the Security Conference 2022 (SiKo) is coming up in the Hotel "Bayerischen Hof" between Marienplatz, Frauenkirche and Odeonsplatz.

It is a rendezvous for top international politicians in the middle of the Isar metropolis with around 1.6 million inhabitants.

Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD), Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock (Greens) and Defense Minister Christine Lambrecht (SPD) are all coming.

US Vice President Kamala Harris and Secretary of State Antony Blinken as well as NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg also want to take part.

Foreign Minister and Federal Chancellor: Annalena Baerbock (The Greens) and Olaf Scholz (SPD).

© IMAGO / Reiner Zensen

Of course, the focus these days is on the Ukraine crisis and the tensions between NATO and Russia.

The Ukrainian President is also coming.

Volodymyr Zelenskyj has announced that he will be speaking on Saturday about “Ukraine and the European security architecture”.

Security Conference 2022: Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyj is in Munich

The Kremlin is different: Moscow turned down all invitations to high-ranking politicians to attend the security conference.

World politics in the middle of Munich.

According to the head of the Munich Security Conference, Wolfgang Ischinger, he had invited Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, former President Dmitri Medvedev and Kremlin boss Putin.

To the end, the former ambassador wanted to try "to get an authorized Russian spokesman in Munich," as he said on Monday (February 14).

In the video: Munich – New head of the security conference proposed

While the general public perceives the event as a large meeting of international politicians and diplomats who take a stand on various topics on stage, the charm emanates in particular from the venue, the hotel "Bayerischer Hof" in the heart of Munich.

The posh hotel leaves plenty of room for the important unofficial talks in back rooms, which were de facto impossible in the two years of the corona pandemic.

There is a lot of catching up to do here.

Security Conference 2022: Traffic light federal government talks about the Ukraine conflict

For the new traffic light federal government, the meeting will be a further stage in the marathon of crisis diplomacy in order to avoid an escalation in the Ukraine conflict.

Baerbock, as chair of the foreign ministers of the G7 countries, will meet with her colleagues on the sidelines of the conference on Saturday to discuss the Ukraine crisis.

Talks are also planned between Germany, France and Ukraine, i.e. three of the four partners in the Normandy format, in which an attempt is made to find a way out of the conflict with Russia.

Vice President of the USA: Kamala Harris.

© IMAGO / ZUMA Wire

Security Conference 2022: In addition to Ukraine, it is about climate change

Although NATO's tensions with Russia is the overarching issue, much space is also given to the fight against climate change.

It was mentioned as one of the central crises in the report published before the Munich Security Conference, the Munich Security Report.

35 heads of state and government, around 100 ministers and the heads of the UN, NATO and the EU are expected to attend the Munich Security Conference.

UN Secretary-General António Guterres will open the meeting.

In a high-security zone in the middle of Munich city center.