Germany has been waiting for its first national security strategy for months. The show has now been postponed again. The project has caused controversy in the government.
Military, Diplomacy and more much more: The security strategy should overarch many policy areas
It happened again: the presentation of the National Security Strategy was postponed again. The cabinet will now give the green light for the basic document, which has been expected since February, at the earliest in mid-June. A discussion of the security strategy in the Bundestag planned for May 25 was cancelled. One of the consequences: when the German and Chinese governments meet in Berlin on June 20th for government consultations, this will happen without the China strategy, which has also been announced for a long time, being available. Because it should build on the National Security Strategy. Like so many other things.
Entered the government consultations in mid-June without a strategy. The China strategy is also shifting
The claim of this national security strategy is ambitious. For the first time, Germany wants to carry out a comprehensive survey of the foreign and security policy environment under the concept of “integrated security”. Based on the realization: security policy is more than military plus diplomacy. In this light, explains SPD member of the Bundestag Johannes Arlt, “there are many things that go into security: from educational policy and health policy to environmental, nutritional and financial policy.” Arlt, a major in the Bundeswehr before entering parliament, concludes: “This gives us a large number of security areas and dimensions that we have to deal with when we talk about security as a whole”.
“Security of freedom of our lives”
The ruling traffic light coalition of SPD, Greens and FDP had already set out to create this security policy compass for so many policy areas in the coalition agreement. At that time there was still peace in Europe. When the development of the national security strategy officially began with a speech by Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock in mid-March 2022, war had been raging in Ukraine for three weeks. And Baerbock defined nothing less than “the security of the freedom of our lives” as the goal of the project. The triad should form: defensiveness, resilience, sustainability.
New security strategy for Germany
The opposition can also rally behind this goal. For example, the CSU member of the Bundestag Thomas Erndl is behind the development of the security strategy: “If we look at the threat situation, hybrid threats, supply chains, dependencies, even in the field of medicines, then it is clear that we need a holistic view and that we have to find answers. ” At the same time, Erndl happily rubs salt in the wound of the repeatedly postponed presentation of the paper: “But of course there must also be a concrete result. And unfortunately that is not visible so far.”
“The government does not agree on central issues “
The conclusion of the opposition politician: “Obviously the government does not agree on key issues!”. Erndl recalls the tradition cultivated in Germany of “making the essential decisions in foreign policy issues with great unity”. And criticizes that the governing parties are now not even able to present such a document together.
Perhaps the government and the Foreign Office, which is responsible for developing the strategy, should not have put themselves under so much time pressure from the outset. After all, it is a complex process with many participants, explains Antonia Witt from the Hessian Foundation for Peace and Conflict Research, PRIF: “This requires a broad process of understanding within the government, but also with the population and with experts about it , what the security challenges actually are, what threat scenarios we can expect in the future and what means Germany would like to use to achieve which goals in security policy. And that is a very, very important political process.” And because the strategy affects all policy areas, it “must also cover a great many politically controversial issues,” says the political scientist.
Arms exports, hackbacks, two percent target
Much has already been negotiated and laid down in the national security strategy, which, according to newspaper reports, is just 36 pages long. But not everything. According to information from the Reuters news agency, there are disputes over the issue of arms exports and in the area of cyber security. The FDP-led Ministry of Justice blocks so-called “hackbacks”. What is meant is permission to attack attackers yourself after a cyber attack.
Hackbacks yes or no – too there is controversy when it comes to cyber security
Political scientist Witt explains that a major contentious factor is whether NATO's two-percent target should be included in the strategy. “There was the question of whether there should be a direct balance between military and non-military expenditure, i.e. whether for every euro that is spent for military purposes, one euro should also be invested in non-military measures. Above all, this means crisis diplomacy, but development cooperation,” says Witt.
No National Security Council
The plan to set up a National Security Council was buried a long time ago. It could have served as a coordination point to find cross-departmental answers to crises and challenges. “Because there is disagreement as to where this National Security Council should be located,” Antonia Witt suspects. According to media reports, both the Chancellery and the Foreign Ministry wanted to have the Security Council under their roof.
SPD MP Arlt is relaxed about the postponement of the presentation date. And directs his attention to the result, which will hopefully be available soon: “A security strategy should of course help that things go faster in the end and decisions can be made more quickly,” says the politician. “That's why I don't see it as a weakness that we keep postponing it, and another month, and another month. This is a new process for us. If the product turns out well, then the wait was worth it.”