berlin brief

There have recently been intense discussions in Germany’s EU partner countries over Berlin’s handling of the Greek debt crisis and its impact on the euro zone.

Has Germany fallen out of love with the European Union?

This is a question increasingly raised in Western capitals. Funny enough, Berlin seems to be immune to this debate. Over the last months, Germany’s “Europapolitik” was stuck in navel-gazing, either ignoring or not understanding the questions and criticism directed to the Merkel government from abroad.

A couple of new papers written by both German and European analysts have picked up the issue, aiming at explaining the “neue deutsche Europapolitik”.

Wolfgang Proissl, a journalist with Financial Times Deutschland who is currently a visiting fellow at the Brussels based think tank Bruegel, has written an excellent essay on Germany’s past, present and future role in Europe:

“Why Germany Fell out of Love with Europe”, Bruegel essays and lectures, Brussels, 1 July 2010.

Jacques Delors’ Paris based think tank “Notre Europe” has just published a compilation of papers of both German and European analysts, discussing “Where is Germany Heading?”:

“Where is Germany Heading?” (directed by Renaud Dehousse and Elvire Fabry), Notre Europe Studies and Research 79, Paris 2010.

How will the European Unon and its members accomodate the “new” Germany?

For all those who had doubts after the BBC’s James Coomarasamy put him to the test last September: Germany’s Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle actually does speak English.

And he proved a sense of humour when the new British Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg and Foreign Secretary William Hague came on their first visit to Berlin this week. Read the rest of this entry »

Perhaps most Europeans still haven’t heard of the European Union’s new President. But Herman van Rompuy, who appeared on the scene in late 2009 with a new provision of the Lisbon Treaty that foresees a permanent elected president for the European Council (”The EU Summit”), has become a man to count on in the Union.

Supported by an experienced and influential team, Van Rompuy has left his marks in a number of major policy issues in his first months in office; and he used the fact that he is the first person to occupy and shape the new position to his favour.

In the economic crisis that brought Greece into turmoil and with it the euro currency, Van Rompuy has developed into a major player.

Without making much noise, he is the one pulling the strings to hammer out reforms aimed at strengthening the governance of the eurozone. The former Belgian prime minister is heading a “task force” that is expected to put initial suggestions to the European Heads of State and Government at their summit in Brussels next week (17-18 June 2010).

This week, Van Rompuy has been on a tour d’Europe to assess the temperatures in Europe’s capitals. No doubt that the support of Germany, the largest economy in the European Union and the eurozone, is crucial to any reform changing the rules of the Stability and Growth Pact.

However, Berlin has been rather isolated so far with its suggestions to Europe’s ministers of finance. (Take a look at the berlinbrief, 24 May 2010)

Will Van Rompuy manage to facilitate an agreement?

Here are Van Rompuy’s official remarks after the meeting with Chancellor Merkel, in which he outlines the reform priorities for the weeks and months to come: Read the rest of this entry »

I have been wanting to write about an interesting novelty in German-Palestinian relations for a while.

On 18 May 2010, a new type of “governmental” consultation mechanism between the Foreign Ministry and the Palestinian Authority was launched in Berlin.

Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle and Prime Minister Salam Fayyad chaired the first session of a so-called “German-Palestinian Steering Committee” that was attended by their Interior, Economics, Development and Education Ministers.

In the course of the meeting the delegations agreed on a number of measures to intensify Germany’s support for the building of Palestinian state structures in the West Bank.

The meeting also had a clear political message: Germany is willing to put its relations with the Palestinian leadership in the West Bank on a qualitatively new footing. The steering committee will operate just under the level of the format applied with the government of Israel (”Joint governmental consultations”).

However, it clearly resembles the meetings with Israel that have been taking place on a regular basis and in the presence of the respective heads of government since 2008.

This is how the Foreign Office describes its motivation for the initiative.

This is the article that Foreign Minister Westerwelle published in Al Quds newspaper on the day of the meeting in Berlin.

In the middle of the euro crisis and growing pressure from both the opposition and her own party about how to manage the German contribution to the Greek and possible future bailouts, Chancellor Merkel was hit by bad news this week.

On Monday, 31 May 2010, German President Horst Köhler resigned in a surprise move over comments he had made in a radio interview on the role of the German military. Having given an interview to a journalist from Deutschlandfunk on a plane taking the President to a visit of the German troops in Afghanistan, Horst Köhler was criticized for seemingly suggesting that the German armed forces should be used to defend Germany’s commercial interests abroad.

Köhler said his remarks were misunderstood and that he certainly did not mean Afghanistan, but was speaking about the support of anti-piracy missions to secure German trade interests, for example. In his resignation speech in Berlin on Monday, Köhler said he was stepping down because of a lack of respect for the dignity of his office as President.

Köhler’s resignation was criticized widely by the media, politicians and the Germans. The resignation is also putting more domestic pressure on Chancellor Merkel.

Take a look at the comments in the German and international media:

Read the rest of this entry »

Chancellor Angela Merkel is struggling with the impact of the Euro crisis.

She is not only facing criticism for what is seen as a going-it-alone approach in the currency crisis by European and international partners. Back in Germany, life has not been easy either, with the Social Democratic and Green opposition’s decision not to support the security umbrella for the Euro zone.

Will Merkel prevail?

Take a look at the newspapers:

“Germany’s Lonely Chancellor” (Spiegel Online International, 24 May 2010).

“Merkel ‘Botched’ Her Duties in Euro Crisis, Says Joschka Fischer” (Spiegel Online International, 24 May 2010).

“Whatever Germany Does, the Euro as We Know It Is Dead” (The Daily Telegraph, 20 May 2010).

“Lawmakers in Germany Back Rescue for Europe” (IHT, 19 May 2010).

“Germany Acts Alone to Protect the Euro and Big Banks Against Speculators” (IHT, 19 May 2010).

“As Guardian of the Euro, Merkel Faces a Difficult Domestic Balancing Act” (IHT, 3 March 2010).

Last week, Germany’s five major institutes for peace research presented their annual Peace Report (”Friedensgutachten”) at the Federal Press Conference and in an evening discussion on 18 May hosted by the Protestant Academy Berlin (Evangelische Akademie zu Berlin).

Panellists at the evening event at the French Cathedral on Gendarmenmarkt included Jochen Hippler of the Institute for Development and Peace at University Duisburg-Essen (INEF), a co-editor of the 2010 Peace Report; Almut Wieland-Karimi, the Director of the Center for International Peace Operations (ZIF) and an expert on Afghanistan; Winfried Nachtwei, a former MP of the Green Party as well as Sabina Matthay, the ARD’s correspondent in New Delhi. Free Democratic MP Elke Hoffe gave a keynote speech.

The event was jointly organized by the Protestant Academy and the German section of Women in International Security (WIIS.de).

An English summary of the findings of the 2010 Peace Report can be found here.

The berlinbrief draws your attention to a new article on the criminal responsibility of German soldiers in Afghanistan. The text was written by Constantin von der Groeben and has just been  published in the German Law Journal.

Here’s the executive summary:

“On 4 September 2009 an officer of the German Bundeswehr (German Army) in Afghanistan, Colonel Georg Klein, ordered an airstrike against two gas tanker trucks hijacked by the Taliban.  In this airstrike, carried out by U.S. Air Force pilots, up to 140 people were killed,  among them not only members of the Taliban but also many civilians.   This raises the question of criminal responsibility of German soldiers who operate in Afghanistan.  The Generalbundesanwalt (General Public Prosecutor) investigated the case and recently decided to terminate the investigations against Colonel Klein.   Despite this decision not all questions are answered.  I will present a more comprehensive analysis of the case, not only commenting on the decision of the Generalbundesanwalt, but also applying different factual hypotheses leading to a different legal assessment of the case.  At the outset I will look back at the line of cases known as the “Road Block Cases,” and seek to explain how the criminal responsibility of German soldiers has been dealt with in the past.”

For the full text visit the website of the German Law Journal.

On Friday, the German Bundestag will decide in an emergency vote on the austerity measures for Greece by the IMF and the European Union.

The largest economy in the eurozone, Germany will contribute with more than 22 billion euros to the aid package.

The coalition of Chancellor Merkel’s CDU, the Bavarian sister party CSU and the Free Democrats of Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle will succeed in passing the law with their majority in Parliament. It looks like the Green Party will support the aid package, while the Left Party – as expected – will vote against it.

Chancellor Merkel will be able to travel to Brussels to the emergency meeting of European leaders later on Friday with a “Yes” from Berlin. The most important country in the eurozone will give green light for the kick off of the austerity measures, hoping that the decision will eventually calm down the markets and set Greece back on track.

But the German “Yes” in Brussels will be a weak one: The Social Democrats under their leader Sigmar Gabriel and the head of the SPD parliamentary group, the former foreign minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier, have decided to deny the government support to the austerity package. They recommended to their MPs on late Thursday evening to abstain from the vote. Read the rest of this entry »

May 9th, 1950 was a revolutionary day for Europe. 60 years ago, the then French Foreign Minister Rober Schuman with a visionary speech in Paris laid the foundations for the peaceful re-unification of the European continent devastated by two wars. Across the European Union, the first week of May is celebrated every year as “European week”.

In 2010, the 60th anniversary of the Schuman Declaration collides with one of the most severe crises in the history of the  European Union. Tomorrow, on the eve of May 9th, European leaders will gather in Brussels to take stock of this week’s events: the billion euro bailout package agreed for Greece, the riots and dead in Athens, and a growing uncertainty about the future of the single currency.

On this day, the berlinbrief recalls the courageous plan of the Union’s founding fathers.

Here is the Schuman Declaration of 9 May 1950 in full length: Read the rest of this entry »