Erstellt am: 16.09.2005 Autor: Ulf Gartzke Status: Bisher nicht definiert
The Case for Regime Change in Berlin And Why It Should Matter to the U.S.
The outcome of Germany’s general elections scheduled for September 18 could have important implications for the country’s foreign and security policy, including transatlantic relations with the United States. Unlike the last German elections in 2002, which were dominated by the imminent war in Iraq, this year’s election focuses above all on Germany’s mounting economic and social problems. Record unemployment and anemic economic growth – again zero percent in the last quarter – have led to widespread public discontent with the current SPD/Green government in Berlin, prompting Chancellor Schröder to call early elections. It has also spurred the rapid rise of a new populist, anti-American left-wing party, particularly in Eastern Germany.
Chancellor Schröder’s dismal economic record alone – the number of unemployed topped 5 million in January for the first time since the 1930s – would make it very hard to justify his re-election in 2005. Yet it is not only in the realm of economics that the conservative CDU/CSU opposition parties want to steer Germany in a different direction if they return to power this fall after seven years in opposition. Notwithstanding that 59 percent of all Germans still think that Chancellor Schröder knows best how to advance their national interests abroad, Germany’s foreign policy, too, is badly in need of fundamental change.
For a potential CDU/CSU government, it is of overriding importance to put transatlantic relations with the United States back on a footing of mutual trust and reliability. Over the past several years, German foreign policy has been run by a group of reckless ideologues that have put their own political self-preservation above their country’s core national interests. Germany must therefore return to the guiding foreign policy principles that served it so well from 1949-1998: combining a strong commitment to Europe’s political and economic integration with a close transatlantic political and military partnership with the United States.
The main thrust of the CDU/CSU’s critique is that Chancellor Schröder and Foreign Minister Fischer sacrificed Germany’s vital alliance with the United States (and the UK for that matter) to form the Paris-Berlin-Moscow-Beijing axis. Acting as French President Jacques Chirac’s junior partner, Schröder tried to turn Europe into a counterweight to the United States. In the end, however, his reckless actions resulted in bitter divisions within Europe, thus undermining NATO and contributing to the EU’s current political crisis.
While moving away from the United States, Schröder’s Red/Green government readily embraced Russia and China as its new allies. Of course, Russia, by virtue of its size, strategic location, and vast energy resources is an important partner for any government in Berlin. And China’s economic weight as a market for German companies is difficult to overstate. Yet in both cases, a Red/Green government – which had come into office with the explicit aim of conducting a “value-based” foreign policy – threw its convictions over board and glossed over the poor state of human rights, rule of law, and political freedom in Russia and China.
For instance, Chancellor Schröder failed to put political pressure on his close friend Vladimir Putin to exercise restraint regarding Chechnya or the Yukos trial. Schröder also showed little sensitivity for fellow EU members Poland and Lithuania when he attended the 750th anniversary celebrations in Kaliningrad, from which both countries were barred by the Kremlin. At the same time, the Red/Green government’s shortsighted energy policy – which decrees, inter alia, that all German nuclear power plants be phased out by 2030 – has made the country increasingly dependent on oil and gas imports from Russia.
The recent failed attempt – spearheaded by Messrs. Schröder and Chirac – to lift the EU’s arms embargo on China despite continuing widespread human rights violations and the country’s massive military build-up – targeted at Taiwan and, indirectly, at the United States – did not only send the wrong message to Beijing; it also caused a strong backlash in Washington, especially on Capitol Hill, where lawmakers even threatened to cut off transatlantic armaments cooperation.
Having first alienated the United States on a number of key policy issues, the Red/Green government then embarked on a rather blunt campaign to push for a permanent seat on the UN Security Council. For sure, the UN is in urgent need of reform, and Germany – along with other key members of the international community – should have a greater say there. But a German Chancellor, who, just three years ago, made the promise to ignore any binding UN Security Council resolution authorizing a military intervention in Iraq the centerpiece of his re-election campaign, cannot today credibly claim a permanent seat on that very body.
To be sure, a CDU/CSU government in Berlin would not blindly follow Washington’s foreign policy lead. Sending German combat troops to Iraq, for instance, is not a realistic option; nor is it currently expected by Washington. Or take Turkey for example. Due to economic and social reasons, CDU/CSU want to establish a “privileged partnership” between Turkey and the EU as a viable alternative to full EU membership. The United States, in contrast, prefer to see Ankara join as a full EU member. In the end, however, this far-reaching decision will need to be made by the Europeans themselves.
Among friends and allies, political differences are inevitable and bound to occur again in the future. The key thing to remember, however, is that these problems must be and can be resolved without creating lasting damage to the underlying mutual trust and reliability. To that end, it is indispensable that Germany return to its traditional role as an “honest broker” committed to keeping Europe and America together. The Red/Green government has failed both in terms of foreign and economic policy. It’s time for regime change in Berlin.
