SPD puts pressure on Baerbock: Foreign Minister should finally appoint "Russia representative".
Created: 08/17/2022 13:06
By: Julia Schöneseiffen
The SPD calls on Annalena Baerbock to fill the post of Russia representative.
© Chris Emil Janssen/IMAGO
The post of Russia representative is still vacant due to the Ukraine war.
The SPD is now demanding the appointment of a coordinator.
Berlin – The traffic light government under Chancellor Olaf Scholz has been officially in office since December 2021.
Nevertheless, one post in the Federal Foreign Office is still vacant: the post of "Coordinator for intersocietal cooperation with Russia, Central Asia and the countries of the Eastern Partnership".
Commonly known as "Russia Commissioner".
So far he has been committed to economic and civil society contacts, from youth exchanges to cooperation in the education sector.
The SPD would now like to see this situation changed and is calling on Federal Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock and the Greens to appoint a new Russia representative.
The SPD foreign expert Nils Schmid told the
Rheinische Post
that the coordinator should serve "as a contact point for civil society in exile".
It is advisable "to take this position seriously in all its importance and to fill it accordingly".
Russia Representative: Post due to the Ukraine war so far vacant
So far, the post has remained vacant due to the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine - relations with Russia have ended.
Relations with other countries in the region became more complicated as a result of the Ukraine war.
Perhaps this is precisely why the call for a Russia representative is being made louder.
After all, he could be very helpful as a central political contact, said Schmid.
"Especially since these are also states such as Ukraine, Georgia and Moldova, which are pursuing a clear EU orientation."
The SPD foreign politician Ralf Stegner told the
Rheinische Post
that times are of course difficult to fill such positions.
Nevertheless, it is not too much to ask "that nine months after the formation of the government and before the day of the federal elections, all personnel decisions should have been made".
Otherwise, “the probably unintentional impression would arise that one considers this task to be dispensable”.
Appointment of a Russia representative: Greens and FDP want to redesign posts
The State Secretary of the Federal Foreign Office, Susanne Baumann, responded to a parliamentary question from left-wing André Hahn that a nomination was planned.
However, "possible adjustments to the task description" are needed, which the Russian attack on Ukraine makes necessary.
FDP foreign politician Alexander Graf Lambsdorff welcomed Annalena Baerbock's reluctance to fill the position.
He explained to
rp-online.de
: "I have little sympathy for trying to set up a coordinator position in the middle of the war that is still based on old and wrong assumptions." That something new had to be designed first, " I think that's totally understandable."
(jsch with AFP)
