berlin brief

The current issue of the German Law Journal is looking at the Kosovo case, analyzing the July 2010 opinion of the International Court of Justice.

This is the first comprehensive analysis of the Court’s recent opinion. This month’s issue covers a wide range of topics related to the Kosovo case, including the role of the European Union.

The German Law Journal provides for a free download of the papers.

Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle has just visited the Western Balkans, where he called the independence and territorial integrity of Kosovo a “reality”.

The British Prime Minister David Cameron made it very clear on a recent visit to Turkey: He wants the country to become an EU member soon.

Cameron implicitly criticized his conservative colleagues on the continent, Chancellor Merkel and French President Sarkozy, who have adopted a cautious approach despite accession negotiations already being under way for a while now.

Merkel has stated on numerous occasions that while “pacta sunt servanda” – i.e. Germany supports the accession negotiations – she believes a “privileged partnership” with the EU would be a more suitable format for Turkey.

A prominent voice of Merkel’s CDU party, however, is speaking out energetically for Turkish accession now:

Ruprecht Polenz, a respected foreign policy expert and the Head of the Foreign Affairs Committee in the German Bundestag, has published a book entitled “Better for both: Turkey belongs in the EU”.

Published by Körber Foundation, whose Berlin office is very active on foreign policy issues of the wider Middle East, the book is a strong plea against the model of a privileged partnership that Chancellor Merkel has been adovacting.

Qantara.de spoke to Ruprecht Polenz. Read the interview here.

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. (more…)

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: (more…)

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).

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. (more…)

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: (more…)

The Lisbon Treaty has shaken the old rivalry between the Federal Chancellery and the Auswärtiges Amt (Foreign Office) about who leads Germany’s European policies.

Interestingly, after years of quarrels over the entry into force of the new treaty, it looks like the Auswärtiges Amt is now taken by surprise by the new provisions that limit its representation in two of the European Union’s top institutions.

Did the Foreign Office not carefully read and anticipate the impact of the treaty? (more…)

Berlin is worried about its influence in the new European diplomatic service that is being established at the moment as a follow up to the Lisbon Treaty.

The European Union’s diplomatic corps will consist of representatives from both the European institutions and the European capitals. Details on how it will look like are currently hammered out under the lead of the Union’s new High Representative for Foreign and Security Policy, Catherine Ashton.

The German government fears that, facing Ashton’s nationality, the diplomatic service will carry too much of a British imprint. (See Spiegel Online International, 2 March 2010: Berlin Concerned about British Dominance)

Indeed it looks like the German government is lagging behind, losing out on getting one of the top posts in the new diplomatic service. And Berlin might also lose the battle to have German established as the third official language.

Berlin’s policy on the issue doesn’t look particularly smart to me. The government came up too late with initiatives on both organisational aspects and questions of staffing. It has been clear for months that with the entering into force of the Lisbon Treaty in December 2009 there will be a window to leave a mark in the set up of the EU’s new foreign policy institutions.

Take a look at Martin Kremer’s papers on the external action service. He is a German diplomat and currently a fellow at Stiftung Wissenschaft und Politik (SWP) in Berlin.