Germany wants to take over control of the Baltic Sea

Published 24 August 2024 at 15.11

Foreign. Germany's military ambitions are growing again. Now the country not only wants to be responsible for NATO's eastern flank, but also wants to take over the traditionally Swedish task of managing the military control of the Baltic Sea, states the head of the country's naval forces in an interview with a Japanese newspaper.

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Germany's military leaders have set their sights on expanding their influence over operations in the Baltic Sea, which has traditionally been a Swedish-dominated area. Although Sweden was not a member of NATO, the formally neutral country had secret bilateral agreements with the United States which in practice meant that Sweden was responsible for the control of the Baltic Sea throughout the post-war period.

But now that may change. After Sweden's entry into NATO, the Germans not only want to take responsibility for NATO's eastern flank, but now also lead all allied naval forces in the Baltic Sea, states the country's naval commander Jan Christian Kaack in an interview with The Japan Times.

The German domestic media reporting usually focus on Germany's economic difficulties in financing its own defense while supporting Ukraine militarily. Despite these challenges, however, German military leaders remain convinced that the United States should give the country the responsibility of leading NATO militarily in Europe, and now also in the Baltic Sea where Germany has held only an insignificant territory since the end of World War II.

The first indications of Germany's new military ambitions to the east appeared in April when General Carsten Breuer, chief of the Bundeswehr, met with General Wiesław Kukuła, chief of the Polish General Staff.

While the Polish side highlighted discussions on strengthening NATO's Eastern Defense Germany's Bundeswehr took it a step further and announced that Germany intended to “take responsibility” for the region.

The statement raised concerns in Poland, where politicians questioned how a country struggling to maintain its own military could suddenly assume responsibility for Poland, a nation that has invested heavily in its defense over the past two years.

< p>The issue was then forgotten for a while, but was brought up again when Navy chief Jan Christian Kaack appeared in the Japanese media and made new statements about Germany's military ambitions.

During a German naval visit to the Far East where two German ships would make a symbolic crossing of the Taiwan Strait as a way to mark support for the US regional showdown with China, Kaack spoke to The Japan Times.

In the interview which published on Tuesday, the naval chief outlined the global challenges facing Germany but also revealed plans for the Baltic Sea region.

He proudly highlighted Germany's significant naval presence in the Baltic Sea and its “exceptional regional experience and extensive reconnaissance capabilities covering the entire area of and underwater”.

“We are prepared to take on greater responsibility and have signaled to NATO that we are prepared to take over regional command and control in the Baltic Sea. We provide the necessary command and control structure through our regional headquarters in Rostock, which serves as our international naval command center,” Kaack told the newspaper.

Although the details of how this oversight would work remain unclear, the German Navy currently consists of over 16,000 men and eleven frigates, five corvettes, six submarines, twelve minesweepers and destroyers, eleven supply ships and three reconnaissance ships.