Germany: CDU and CSU call for foreign policy reform over Ukraine war

The CDU and CSU have developed their own definition of the “turning point”, according to Welt.

The so-called “Cologne Declaration” calls for the establishment of a national security council and a reassessment of China’s dependence. The document is to be approved on Monday, according to information from the German newspaper. It is noted that according to the German media, tomorrow the leader of the CDU, Friedrich Mertz will go to Kyiv.

As a result of the Russian war against Ukraine, the CDU and the CSU are calling for a reshuffle of German foreign and security policy.

A “turn to German politics” is needed, according to a draft document they intend to adopt by the two CDU / CSU party presidencies at a joint meeting in Cologne next Monday. “What matters is that we think about security as a whole and act accordingly.” In this way, Germany must also take greater responsibility in the world.

The draft of the “Cologne Declaration” was made available to the Deutsche Presse-Agentur, as mentioned by the “Tagesspiegel” in Berlin. “Germany needs an emergency radar, the country needs to measure and evaluate all its dependencies,” he said. This includes military threats, the threat of terrorism and organized crime, misinformation campaigns and all forms of extremism, as well as climate damage and dependence on the economy, technology, energy supply and food.

The CDU and CSU are calling for the German defense forces to adapt to the “new reality”, a comprehensive security strategy and a national security council that will integrate the new security policy and represent it externally. This organization exists in the US and other countries.

The work should also integrate “business and workers, science and innovation, civil society and think tanks”. What is needed is “a common new way of thinking about security and sovereignty.” For Germany, security includes “also job and income security”. “Germany therefore needs a new globalization strategy that focuses more on growth opportunities in the EU, the US and Africa and re-evaluates its dependence on China,” the paper said.

With regard to climate policy, the CDU and the CSU call for the necessary reorganization of energy policy, so that “it can be used consistently to accelerate energy efficiency, renewable energy sources and technological innovation”. They also support a “climate pioneer club of international pioneers” that combines progress in climate protection with economic opportunities: “Climate, energy, human rights and security think holistically together.

CDU Secretary-General Mario Czaja told Deutsche Presse-Agentur: “In the CDU / CSU view, the turning point in the war requires a comprehensive security policy for our country – in close cooperation with Europe and the United States. to recognize the risks earlier, to create a sensitive and integrated risk radar to analyze the dependencies and to create real alternatives at an early stage “.

“One wants to secure the German economic model and European and German climate policy must be seen as part of security and think holistically,” Czaja said. “In addition, we need to talk openly about security issues – on a large and small scale.”