Habeck am Gulf: Remnants of a “value-oriented foreign policy”

Green politicians have long insisted on a “value-oriented foreign policy” with a view to authoritarian states. In the search for new energy partners, Economics Minister Habeck is now reaching the limits.

The German Embassy in Abu Dhabi had expressly requested a meeting with the Crown Prince, after all Robert Habeck is Vice Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany. But nothing came of it. Mohammed bin Zayed, the de facto ruler of the United Arab Emirates, has more important things to do. Last weekend, for example, he rolled out the red carpet for Syria’s ruler Bashar al-Assad in Abu Dhabi. Assad, ostracized for years as a war criminal and mass murderer, was embraced by the crown prince. The trip to Abu Dhabi should prove that he will be accepted back into the circle of Arab brothers.

Assad’s political comeback in the Arab world, Habeck’s efforts to forge “new energy partnerships” there — that’s what diplomats would say is “the situation.” Shortly before the departure of the Green Economics Minister for the Arabian Gulf, the Green Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock once again declared: “We must not become completely economically dependent on other, especially non-authoritarian, countries, but as a liberal democracy we must also ensure the security of our protect citizens.”

Away from Russia – get to the Arab world

“Value-oriented foreign policy” is what the Green coalition partners in particular have advocated time and time again. But now, in view of the war in Ukraine and Germany’s currently unavoidable dependence on Russian gas, the “value-oriented foreign policy” of Green government politicians is reaching its limits. In order to break away from Vladimir Putin, Habeck has no choice but to bond with other potentates. That is Habeck’s experience in the Arab world.

It must be bitter, but he can’t say that openly. Instead, he uses the phrases that so many other top German politicians used before him, whether in China, in Russia or in the Middle East: “In all the conversations I addressed the subject of human rights and the encouragement to keep going and moving forward go was accepted quite openly.”

The other foreign policy

The crown princes and monarchs on the Arabian Peninsula are happy to listen to and nod to the encouragements of Western ministers. But basically they perceive someone like Habeck as a traveling salesman – as a petitioner who needs nothing more in the short term than liquefied natural gas from Qatar and in the long term green hydrogen from the Emirates.

Away from business, the Emir of Qatar and the Crown Prince of the Emirates pursue their own foreign policy. Their political worldview has little to nothing to do with Western principles or doctrines. The new energy partner Qatar dazzles visitors with ultra-modern high-rise facades. But behind it is a strictly conservative system.

Qatar has sponsored Islamist movements such as the Muslim Brotherhood and supported Hamas for more than a decade. The United Arab Emirates, on the other hand, is a warring party in Yemen and is doing everything it can to underpin its political influence in the region with military strength. The desperate search for future energy partners has led Habeck to flawless autocrats.