Exclusive
Status: 01/22/2023 00:00
In 2021, the SPD leadership was given the task of redefining the party’s foreign and security policy. The 21-page result is now up to that ARD Capital Studio before: Many of the new positions follow the course of Chancellor Scholz.
There was a lot of criticism of the SPD’s foreign policy after the Russian attack on Ukraine. Too naïve, too pro-Russian, too focused on change through trade are just a few of the accusations. One might therefore think that the reorientation in foreign and security policy is a direct consequence of Russia’s war of aggression. It’s not quite like that.
As early as December 2021, the delegates at the SPD federal party conference gave the party leadership the task of rethinking the social democratic view of international politics. At that time, the party still believed that the Russian president would not attack Ukraine. The “International Politics Commission” (KIP) has now been working for a good year. To the ARD Capital Studio the result paper is available exclusively.
“Turning point” in Russia policy
Under the direction of co-party leader Lars Klingbeil, important players from the party, parliamentary group and government have tried nothing less than reinventing SPD foreign and security policy. Members of the commission included parliamentary group leader Rolf Mützenich, Federal Minister Svenja Schulze and Chancellor Wolfgang Schmidt, but also representatives of the Jusos.
In October, party leader Klingbeil said in a speech at the Friedrich Ebert Foundation that Germany must claim to be a leading power. These are new tones for the SPD. The party is now doing what Chancellor Olaf Scholz has been saying for a long time. What that means for the party is defined on 21 pages.
Among other things, it is a reinvention of the SPD’s Russia policy. The term “turning point” appears a total of ten times – this shows the close interlocking between the party and the chancellor’s office. The paper is the explanation and theoretical superstructure of Chancellor Scholz’s policy. On page two, the authors write that the rule-based order is increasingly coming under pressure. More and more states are trying to put the law of the strong above the strength of the law. A motif that the Chancellor has often used in speeches.
Recognize trends early
The SPD is also self-critical. Developments in recent years show that efforts to maintain a rule-based order have not always been successful. During his speech in October 2022, Klingbeil said that the signals from Russia should have been viewed differently – at the latest after the annexation of Crimea.
In the future, people want to think in scenarios, recognize trends at an early stage and show appropriate options for action. The basic prerequisite for peace and order is one’s own strength, which includes strong institutions and a resilient and attractive economy. These have always been the cornerstones of social democratic politics.
Commitment to NATO’s two percent target
What is new is that the SPD is now also emphasizing that one’s own strength is also defined by military capabilities. In 2017, the then party leader Sigmar Gabriel had a public dispute with the USA about NATO’s two percent target. “I don’t even know where we should put all the aircraft carriers that we would have to buy in order to invest 70 billion euros a year in the Bundeswehr,” the then foreign minister said on the sidelines of a NATO meeting.
From the perspective of the SPD, such statements now sound like they are from a different time. In the paper, the party is committed to the two percent target. Germany is making it clear that the alliance partners can rely on the Federal Republic.
More focus on Global South
In addition to NATO, it is also important to enter into strategic partnerships with countries in Asia, Africa and Latin America, the paper says. This is also already evident in the government’s actions: one focus of the traffic-light government’s travel diplomacy is already focusing on the countries of the Global South.
Chancellor Scholz will soon be flying to Brazil, Argentina and Chile. The aim is to involve these countries and offer them partnerships so that they do not do this with Russia or China. The People’s Republic is described in the SPD paper as a “partner”, “competitor” and “system rival”.
Decoupling from China is not an option
The party’s China policy is also being redefined. On the one hand, China is a relevant player without whom global challenges such as climate change cannot be solved. At the same time, the country is economically closely intertwined with Europe. A decoupling from China is therefore not an option. Instead, you have to reduce the risks. In order to minimize economic dependencies, the SPD relies on diversification. When it comes to raw materials, you always have to have another supplier in addition to China in the future.
In the future, too, the SPD does not only want to talk to partners who share Western values. In order to achieve larger goals, one must also remain in dialogue with difficult partners. This is where the new strategy differs from the coalition partner, the Greens. The paper states that if more than half of the world’s population lives in autocratically governed countries, then a partnership policy cannot be limited to democracies. It is important to keep channels of communication open for the fight against the climate crisis or nuclear disarmament. “Even with difficult partners”.
Because all relevant tendencies within the SPD were involved in the process, not much criticism from the party itself is expected. The paper is said to be the expression of a broad consensus. SPD leader Klingbeil wants to publicly present the new strategy on Monday. In December, the SPD federal party conference is to decide on the reorganization of foreign and security policy.