Status: 03.12.2021 03:31 a.m.
With Baerbock as the new Federal Foreign Minister, German European policy could also change. The plans appear ambitious, but in practice there is potential for conflict.
Annalena Baerbock will get to know Brussels again from a completely new perspective. From 2005 to 2008 she was the office manager of a Green MP in the EU Parliament. She will soon be sitting behind the windows of a limousine that is driving her from the airport through the city to the VIP entrance of the EU Council building. First camera teams wait there, followed by the other EU foreign ministers.
In the very likely event that the Green base approves the coalition agreement and personnel proposals, Baerbock will be the first woman to take on the post of German chief diplomat. In the past few months she had repeatedly emphasized how important European solutions are to her. In one taz-Interview, for example, Baerbock has now renewed its demand for a tougher course towards China.
Will it succeed in bringing a breath of fresh air to the German government’s European policy? In France in particular, there was always a lack of understanding: Why is Germany not responding appropriately to President Emmanuel Macron’s ideas?
But despite all the ambitions, the success lies only to a limited extent in the hands of the Green Foreign Minister. A chancellor, several ministries and three parties have to prove that there is a common understanding on European issues not only on paper in the coalition agreement, but also in concrete decisions.
Big words
Without a doubt, the coalition agreement formulates ambitious goals: The aim is a “democratically more stable, more capable of acting and strategically more sovereign” EU. Members should only receive money from the Corona fund if an “independent judiciary is guaranteed”. As the largest member state, Germany should take on “special responsibility in a serving understanding for the EU as a whole”. Big words.
Jana Puglierin from the European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR) sees a pro-European orientation in all three traffic light parties. At the same time, they are not in agreement on fundamental questions in substance – for example, whether the model of reconstruction funds can also be applied to other areas. “They tried to cover it up in the coalition agreement, but the text remains very open.” Another example: Nord Stream 2. Greens and FDP are against the operation of the natural gas pipeline. The SPD sees it differently. The coalition agreement only contains a reference to European energy law.
Some passages leave room for interpretation. Example: the Stability and Growth Pact. The rules of the game for sound housekeeping have been suspended due to the pandemic. The coalition agreement provides for a “further development” for the time thereafter. The goals: ensure growth, maintain debt sustainability, but also “promote sustainable and climate-friendly investments”.
More leeway?
The Greens see this combination as a step forward. This opens up the scope for a solid and sustainable fiscal policy, said Franziska Brantner, Parliamentary State Secretary in the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Climate Protection: “We are creating rules that do not have to be stretched far in order to be able to meet the challenges of our time effectively.”
Countries like Italy are hoping for more leeway. Others – especially the Netherlands – insist on a tough course. Germany, according to the finance minister-designate Christian Lindner on ZDF, cannot act like a small Nordic country, but neither can one-sidedly stand on the side of those who want to undermine the rules. The FDP member of the Bundestag Otto Fricke supports a modernization of the pact, also by making decision-making processes faster. But he also makes it clear: “We have to clearly define what serves the future of Europe.”
And so there is potential for conflict in practice. That is why, according to the political scientist Puglierin, coordination within the government is “so important, but also so difficult”: “These differences will have to be discharged somewhere.”
There is a lot to vote on. Europe is an issue that is addressed in many places in the coalition agreement. Anyone who only reads the Europe chapter is skipping too short. European policy is much more than just a sub-area of foreign policy: migration, agriculture, digital policy and so on. Often several federal ministries are involved in one EU law, including disputes during the vote.
Who is coordinating?
Bernd Hüttemann, General Secretary of the European Movement Germany criticizes a “previously inefficient vote”. In conversation with the ARD capital studio he complains: “Germany was often on the brakes in the Council and could not position itself.”
The European Movement welcomes the resolutions of the traffic light partners. They want to pursue an “active European policy” and position themselves clearly and early on in relation to the European Commission’s projects through more stringent coordination. The Chancellery has long been the center of power in European politics. Angela Merkel was a defining figure on the European stage. She distinguished herself more through the management of crises than through far-sighted visions.
The coalition agreement is not lacking in ambition. But there is still the risk that the pandemic will seize the traffic light government in such a way that it simply does not have the strength to deal with major questions about the future of the EU.