Meeting of EU foreign ministers: tough day-to-day business instead of spectacles

From the G7 meeting in Liverpool, Annalena Baerbock is heading straight to Brussels today. And the talks with your EU colleagues will deal with numerous crises.

The Russian troop deployment near Ukraine, the refugee crisis in the border area between Poland and Belarus, the dispute with Turkey over the ghost town of Varosha on Cyprus, the catastrophic situation in Ethiopia, Afghanistan and Venezuela …

Annalena Baerbock has probably rolled through a lot of files in the past few days in order to be up to date with all of these trouble spots before the first meeting with her European colleagues.

Quite clear: after the comparatively relaxed exhibition on the inaugural visit last week, the tough reality is now waiting in Brussels. “I’m sure you will like your first conference because the agenda is really packed,” said EU chief diplomat Josep Borrell, which is meant in a friendly way – but sounds a bit like a threat.

From zero to one hundred

For the new German Foreign Minister this means: The warm-up phase is canceled, it goes from zero to one hundred immediately. Because, as her predecessor Heiko Maas experienced: “In the Foreign Office, the crisis is day-to-day business.”

Take Ukraine as an example: How should the EU react to the Russian troop deployment on the border? “The tensions show that it is high time to revive the NATO-Russia Council, and we are ready to do so,” suggested Baerbock on her first visit to NATO headquarters. However, Moscow is not even considering engaging in such talks. Instead, President Vladimir Putin wants to negotiate with his US counterpart Joe Biden on the security architecture in Europe – preferably without the Europeans, which the EU firmly rejects.

Commission President Ursula von der Leyen emphasizes: “One can only talk about European security architecture with Europe. A general discussion about security aspects that affect Europe is the OSCE – because everyone involved is sitting at the same table.”

Human rights violations in China

The difficult relationship between the EU and China will also be discussed today. First, because Beijing started a kind of trade war with Lithuania after Taiwan was allowed to open a diplomatic mission in the EU country. And secondly, because calls for a political boycott of the Winter Olympics because of human rights violations in China are growing louder.

French President Emmanuel Macron is campaigning for a common European stance on this point, just as Baerbock did on her inaugural visit to Paris: “We will decide on this in the new federal government, but in harmony with our European friends.”

And today, the new German chief diplomat can explain to these European friends how she concretely envisions her value-based foreign policy and the announced tougher course towards China.