In this speech delivered at the 2014 meeting of the
Munich Security Conference, the new German foreign
minister, Frank Walter Steinmeier, outlined Germany’s interest in playing a
more significant role in foreign policy. (See Economist article “No More Shirking”) He begins by providing background on the importance on of the
security conference and diplomacy in general. This leads to him presenting 7
propositions for Germany’s role in the European and global diplomatic sphere.
These propositions are modest when compared to American, British, or French
levels of foreign involvement, but for Germany the “shirker of the
international community”, this signifies a major shift in foreign policy
attitude. He ends by addressing the need to protect civil rights in the era of
“big data” and maintain good relations with America.
Ladies and
gentlemen,
Over the past
four years I’ve been a regular guest of the Munich Security Conference. Even
so, I’m delighted this time to be addressing you once again as my country’s
foreign minister. So thank you very much, Wolfgang, for inviting me and may I
congratulate the MSC very warmly on turning fifty.
When Ewald von
Kleist founded this forum under a different name all those years ago, no one
could have anticipated how much it would influence the foreign and security
policy debate well beyond our own borders. One reason was because in the MSC’s
early years the Federal Republic of Germany was located right on the periphery
of the Western world, at the interface between two hostile blocs; it had
nothing that could be turned into foreign and security policy clout. Thanks to
the wise guidance and hard work of Horst Teltschik and – over the past six
years – Wolfgang Ischinger, this annual conference has been steadily modernised
and expanded. Thematically it deals with issues right at the top of the
international agenda. Today the MSC is clearly more than a family get together
for the foreign and security policy community – it’s that, too, of course, but
it’s a great deal more besides. That explains its undiminished attraction.
Every year experts gather here in Munich from all over the world to discuss
crises and conflicts along with possible ways to resolve them. They come also
to discuss new threats and above all to explore differences in perception.
Just how
important especially this last point is Christopher Clark has highlighted this
year, when we commemorate the outbreak of World War I, in his book “The
Sleepwalkers”. What he writes makes sombre reading. He has meticulously
documented how in 1914, over the course of just a few weeks, lack of
communication, estrangement, personal ambition and jingoistic nationalism drove
first Europe and then the whole world into the great seminal catastrophe of the
20th century. Within weeks the situation was out of control, all communication
was broken off and death went knocking from door to door. Over these past 50
years the MSC has played its part – as it will need to do also in future, I
believe – in preventing things getting to such a pass; in preventing peaceful
interaction turning once again into unfettered hatred; and in ensuring that
even when opinions differ, the channels of communication remain open.
When I returned
to the Federal Foreign Office four weeks ago, the first thought that crossed my
mind was yes, my office is the same, my desk’s the same I left four years ago.
But is the world still the same? After a while observing world events more as a
bystander, you notice more clearly perhaps what’s changed. Violent conflicts
have moved closer to Europe’s borders; here in our own continent they’re back,
indeed, as we see in Ukraine.
In East Asia
we’re a long way from truly understanding the background, the multiple layers
of history behind the escalating rhetoric between China, Japan and their
neighbours.
And on returning
from Geneva I ask myself whether we’ve really been discussing only the bloody
conflict in Syria or in fact the imminent erosion of all state authority across
the whole Middle East, similar to what’s happening in the arc of crisis
extending from the Sahel right down to the Gulf of Guinea.
Reason enough,
surely, to talk about what diplomacy’s possibilities and limits are, and of
course also Germany’s role in this connection. As I’ve recently made a number
of public comments on this and can expand on them later on the podium, let me
briefly state just seven propositions:
1.
Germany must be ready for earlier, more decisive and
more substantive engagement in the foreign and security policy sphere.
2.
Assuming responsibility in this sphere must always
mean something concrete. It must amount to more than rhetorical outrage or the
mere issue of grades for the efforts and activities of others. A concrete
example of the German Government’s changed stance here is our offer to destroy
residual waste from Syria’s chemical weapons in German facilities, which are
among the most modern in the world.
3.
Germany is keen to supply and will supply conceptual
input for a common European foreign, security and defense policy. Europe’s
foreign policy can be more than the sum of many small parts only if our
combined weight – including Europe’s South and East – is brought to bear. In
this spirit we’re currently considering what practical assistance, also of a
military nature, we can provide to help stabilise fragile states in Africa,
Mali in particular.
4.
The use of military force is an instrument of last
resort. It should rightly be used with restraint. Yet a culture of restraint
for Germany must not become a culture of standing aloof. Germany is too big
merely to comment on world affairs from the sidelines. What we must do first
and foremost, in fact, is sit down together with others and think harder and
more creatively about how our diplomatic toolbox could be improved and utilised
for productive initiatives.
5.
Here in Munich we should put our combined weight
behind the effort to facilitate a peaceful solution to the crisis in Ukraine.
The current stand off must not be resolved by the use of force. When the fuse
to the powder keg has already been lit, it’s highly dangerous to play for time.
President Yanukovych must deliver fully on the pledges he’s made to the
Opposition. Then there’s a realistic chance the political stand off can be
resolved in the next few days.
6.
Despite our many differences, we need to explore with
Russia how we could put our relationship onto a more constructive and
cooperative footing. Only with Russia will a deal with Iran be achieved. Only
with Russia will the destruction of Syria’s chemical weapons be achieved. We
would be making a mistake to conceive of Europe’s future without Moscow, or
even in opposition to it. But let me make another point just as firmly and
clearly. It’s also up to Moscow to define common interests.
7.
Over these past decades Europe and the United States
have been extremely close. For us the North Atlantic Alliance has been an
indispensable anchor in a troubled world. Both economically and politically,
Europe and America are each other’s closest partners. But obviously our partnership
can’t thrive on continuity alone.
The
Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership or TTIP is a huge opportunity of
strategic dimensions. But we also need to rethink and clarify our partnership
in the digital world. Many Germans have lost faith in our partnership with the
United States. This is something we can’t be indifferent to. And it’s not
something that’s self healing. We see in President Obama’s recent speech that
he’s genuinely concerned about his country’s security, yet also concerned about
the West’s cohesion in the digital age. That’s something we must work on
together. What’s needed here is an appropriate transatlantic forum where we can
develop parameters which will ensure in this era of “big data” that basic civil
rights are protected and make clear what rules apply in future to both
governments and businesses. We would be tackling one of the really big issues
that will shape the younger generation’s perceptions of America in years to
come. In present company I don’t need to convince anyone of the importance of
transatlantic friendship. But the same can’t be said of the younger generation.
It’s our job and also our responsibility to convince them.
Syria, Ukraine,
Iran, Iraq, Libya, Mali, the Central African Republic, South Sudan, Afghanistan,
tensions in East Asia – that’s by no means an exhaustive list of this year’s
hot spots. Given the foreign and security policy challenges ahead, we certainly
won’t be short of work.
Frank Walter Steinmeier, Foreign Minister of Germany, “Speech
by Foreign Minister Frank Walter Steinmeier at the 50th Munich Security
Conference,” Munich Security Conference, Munich, Germany, January 02, 2014. http://www.auswaertiges-amt.de/
--Nick Pinto
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