Conference at the Federal Foreign Office to launch the Review 2014 initiative
On Tuesday morning (20 May) Foreign Minister Frank‑Walter Steinmeier invited international experts to take a critical look at Germany's foreign policy. The participants discussed Germany's involvement in world affairs and its foreign policy instruments before an audience of more than 400, while many more were watching the conference on the internet.
If we assume responsibility we are just as responsible for the things we don't do as for the things we do.
"What is wrong with German foreign policy?" It was with this question that Foreign Minister Steinmeier opened the first event of "Review 2014 – A Fresh Look at German Foreign Policy". In his speech he indicated the aims of the initiative – launching a self‑critical and open‑ended debate with a broad public on what form Germany's foreign policy should take today.
According to the Foreign Minister, Germany had to perform the "balancing act" of fulfilling increased international expectations and, at the same time, the demands often voiced by the German public for more restraint in the field of foreign policy. In a "disordered world" Germany needed to give a "new direction" to its foreign policy, Steinmeier said.
The first round of discussions revealed the diversity of demands that the international community has of Germany. When asked what the world expected from Germany, international experts presented their views and ideas about German foreign policy. Élisabeth Guigou, for example, demanded that the French and German Governments take a common position with a view to security policy towards Africa. Angela E. Stent praised Germany's leading role on the Ukraine crisis, but at the same time suggested that it should include elements of "hard power" in its "soft power" approach. Fuat Keyman, Director of the Istanbul Policy Center, called for closer cooperation between Turkey and Germany on the Syria crisis.
This international view was then contrasted with opinions from within Germany, when Thomas Paulsen of the Körber Foundation presented a survey on what Germans thought of their country's foreign policy. According to this survey, 60 percent of people interviewed were against Germany's greater involvement in world affairs. Yet a clear majority of respondents were in favour of more engagement in specific areas such as humanitarian aid, diplomatic negotiations and arms control. Click here to see the detailed results of the survey.
The analysis of the survey's results in the second panel discussion made clear that Germany's foreign policy faces major challenges. Participants agreed that involvement in world affairs was often – but wrongly – equated with military engagement. According to Norbert Röttgen, this was why the review process had to be used to better inform the public about the different instruments of foreign policy, thus justifying Germany's approach in this field.
Arvid Bell, in turn, urged the participants to reconsider the words used in the debate. In his view this was not about "communicating" the German Government's policy, but rather about entering into a frank dialogue on what this policy should look like. However, all the participants pointed out the chances that the review process offered. Christiane Hoffmann, for example, said that it was current events such as the crisis in Ukraine that were forcing us to reconsider the basic direction of Germany's foreign policy.
Foreign Minister Steinmeier took up the issue of Ukraine in his closing speech, saying that the current crisis had highlighted a "lack of direction" in Germany's foreign policy. He also underscored that it was important not to be indifferent to the problems the world was facing. "If we assume responsibility we are just as responsible for the things we don't do as for the things we do." This was why we needed a broad and nuanced debate, for which the conference had been an excellent starting point, he went on to say.
