After months of negotiations, the federal government in Berlin presented Germany’s National Security Strategy for the first time. In the morning, the cabinet accepted the document of more than 40 pages. Chancellor Olaf Scholz and four of his ministers then presented the result. Already during their coalition negotiations, the GSDP, the Greens and the SDP (the so-called “Traffic light coalition”) agreed for the first time to develop a comprehensive security strategy.
The main idea of the strategy is to address all internal and external threats to Germany’s security for the first time. So far, individual ministries and departments have worked separately on similar issues. In addition to military threats, this also includes cyber attacks or possible attacks on critical infrastructure, as well as climate change.
What does the National Security Strategy say?
The National Security Strategy attempts to clarify many fundamental questions. These include, for example, what actually counts as Germany’s security interests and who should be involved in solving these problems.
“The primary task of our security policy is to ensure that we can continue to live in peace and freedom in our country,” the text of the ZDF Strategy quoted.
The National Security Strategy identifies a number of thematic areas as Germany’s main security challenges:
- National Defense and Defense of the Provinces
- Civil defense and civil protection
- International crisis management and development policy
- Protection from foreign influence and espionage
- Protection of technology and critical infrastructure
- Cyber and Space Security
- Security of raw materials and energy
- Addressing the climate crisis and pandemics
- Food security
What measures does the National Security Strategy envisage?
The National Security Strategy is a seminal text; therefore, the measures set out in it are mostly declarations of intent that require further work. Additional funds for the implementation of these projects are not provided directly. The federal government’s goal is to strengthen security along three main dimensions: “defensiveness,” “sustainability,” and “inexhaustibility.”
“Defense ability“: Here the document mentions above all the achievement of the two percent goal, i.e. keeping the promise to NATO to spend at least two percent of the gross domestic product on defense. So far, Germany has not achieved this goal. Military capabilities in cyberspace must be expanded and space The European arms industry must be strengthened and the common arms export policy developed.
“Sustainability“: Here the emphasis is on better protection of critical infrastructure. It ranges from hospitals, through electricity and water supply to road and rail transport. These areas need to be better protected against disasters and cyber attacks. It is planned to expand the Federal Office for information security (BSI) and developing “national reserves” for food, energy and medicine.To deal with migration, the EU’s controversial migration partnerships and repatriation agreements are mentioned.
“Inexhaustibility“: This area is scarce compared to the others. References are made to the Climate Adaptation Act and the revision of the national biodiversity strategy and related international agreements. The strategy commits to Germany’s advocacy of “binding provisions of international law in dealing with pandemics”.
However, one thing is completely missing from the strategy, commented the German media: a structural reform of decision-making processes. The “traffic light” coalition could not agree on the creation of the long-discussed National Security Council to coordinate government actions.
The point of contention is whether a National Security Council should be formed as a control center in the government? The Foreign Office feared it would lose influence if the chancellery took a leading role in the council – a matter of power. In the end, it was decided to keep everything as it is now.
The SDP politician Marie-Agnes Strak-Zimmerman described the National Security Strategy as “good news” according to ZDF. However, according to her, “the baby took a while to be born.” The chairman of the Defense Committee in the Bundestag criticized that the National Security Council requested by the SDP will not exist. The SDP, however, will not back down on this issue, stressed Štrak-Zimmerman.
The provinces feel surprised
The fact that the provinces – contrary to initial expectations – were not included in the consultations provoked criticism from their side. “If the federal government had a serious interest in developing a forward-looking security strategy, it should have involved the provinces in an appropriate way through the expert working groups of the Conference of Interior Ministers,” said Hessen Interior Minister Peter Beut (CDU), a spokesman for the Union-led interior ministries.
Despite repeated requests made through the Conference of Ministers of the Interior, this has not been done.
The adoption of Germany’s National Security Strategy is not the end of the process. A separate China policy strategy should be drawn up by the end of this year. As for Russia and Ukraine, on the one hand, a lot has already been said, and on the other hand, the situation is so dynamic that it is hardly possible to look far into the future.
2023-06-14 13:50:24
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