Annalena Baerbock has done Kremlin propaganda a great favor with her controversial Russia statement. In any case, German foreign and security policy, which is struggling for the approval of the population in difficult times, cannot succeed in this way.
Dear FOCUS Online readers,
the Federal Foreign Minister enjoys some popularity among the German population. This is not unusual for the Federal Foreign Minister, the FDP has long lived on it. But in times of war in Europe, every word counts, especially in foreign policy, especially when speaking in a foreign language.
And that’s where the Federal Foreign Minister made a serious faux pas this week, which shouldn’t happen in a well-prepared speech. Speaking to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, which has 46 member states from all over Europe, including all member states of the European Union, Annalena Baerbock describes the war in Ukraine with the words “We are fighting a war against Russia.” We are fighting a war against Russia?
“We”? This is exactly the Kremlin’s propaganda, which Moscow is only too happy to hear, and which is then also spread from there via all available channels.
Now, each of us can express ourselves badly, but in the context of everything else that happened this week, the impression that this federal government has of a poorly coordinated and even poorly explained foreign and security policy remains. On Sunday, the Federal Foreign Minister said in Paris that Germany would in future issue export permits for the Leopard tank. The chancellor is silent on this.
On Tuesday evening, reports from the federal government reached the media that they would now be supplying tanks to the Ukraine. And on Wednesday, the Federal Chancellor will not make a government statement on the matter, but will announce this decision in the government survey by the Bundestag. To justify why this is happening now, the Chancellor refers solely to the USA, which would now also be supplying tanks.
In recent weeks and months, we have frequently discussed the need to provide Ukraine with even better military assistance in view of the increased attacks on civilian targets with many dead and injured. In the foreground of the arguments of the federal government was only and exclusively the question of whether the Americans would also go down this path.
The military situation in Ukraine and the fear that the Russian army is planning another major offensive were never part of the justification for or perhaps against further arms deliveries to the Ukrainian army. As a result, the federal government has failed to provide important answers to questions asked by the general public.
And the Federal Foreign Minister negligently uses a narrative that the opponents of our aid for Ukraine are only too happy to accept. Foreign and security policy that is struggling for the approval of the population in difficult times cannot succeed in this way.
Best Regards
Yours Friedrich Merz
Friedrich Merz is a lawyer and politician (CDU). From 1989 to 1994 he was a member of the European Parliament and from 1994 to 2009 of the German Bundestag. There he was chairman of the CDU/CSU parliamentary group from 2000 to 2002. In 2018, Merz ran unsuccessfully for the presidency of the CDU, just like in 2021. Only at the third attempt was he elected party leader at the CDU party conference on January 22, 2022. Now Merz is again a member of parliament and chairman of the CDU/CSU parliamentary group.
In his “Mail von Merz” the CDU politician analyzes and comments on current political developments in Germany and beyond for the readers of FOCUS Online.
