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Playing Second Fiddle

Germany Left Out of Global Policy Loop

By Markus Feldenkirchen, Dirk Kurbjuweit and Alexander Szandar

Weapons for the Middle East, nuclear power for Gadhafi, nominees to head important international institutions -- and nobody even bothers to call Angela Merkel. The government in Berlin is learning a painful lesson this summer: It stands alone in its multilateralist policies and few seem to care what the Germans think.

Deputy Foreign Minister Gernot Erler, a member of the Social Democratic party, spent last week playing the role of stand-in for Germany's foreign policy in Berlin. With the chancellor on vacation and the foreign minister in Africa, Erler, minister of state at the Foreign Ministry, found himself shouldering more responsibilities than usual as he sat at his desk waiting for reports to roll in from around the world.

As he sat in his comfortable chair facing a vase of flowers on his leather-covered desk, Erler wasn't exactly in a jubilant mood. The news coming to Berlin in recent weeks was rarely good and not just as a result of the hostage crisis in Afghanistan. Erler found himself reading about the way others pursue their global policies -- without Germany.

The news was none too encouraging. The French plan to supply the Libyans with a nuclear power plant and weapons, while the Americans will be selling billions in weapons to countries like Saudi Arabia. Erler read that a Frenchman will become the new chairman of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and former British Prime Mininster Tony Blair, as the West's new Middle East envoy, will soon be negotiating on Europe's behalf.

The worst part of this news was that Gernot Erler and the German government had to read the newspaper to learn about it. No one had asked them for their opinion or advice. In fact, no one even felt it was necessary to notify Germany.

Erler is now sitting at the conference table in his office, facing another vase of fresh flowers. He takes pains to remain diplomatic as he discusses French President Nicolas Sarkozy and United States President George W. Bush. He cannot state his true feelings -- at least not publicly -- about the fact that Germany's friends and partners have taken to going it alone, without consulting Germany. His speech is peppered with expressions like "somewhat misfortunate" or "would certainly have been desirable." But Erler's body language speaks volumes. His arms, locked across his chest in a defensive posture, say all that needs to be said.

The limits of German influence have been highlighted all too clearly in recent weeks. This has come as a shock to Berlin, especially after going through the first six months of the year basking in the warm glow of German-led multilateralism. Under German leadership, a European climate protection program and structural reforms for the European Union were developed and, at the G8 summit in the Baltic seaside resort of Heiligendamm, a climate compromise with the stubborn US on board.

Germany had behaved like a kindly sheepdog, gently driving the herd in one direction, keeping everyone nicely together and making sure that no one strayed too far from the herd. But now it's becoming clear that there could very well be a few wolves lurking in the herd. The US government announced its plans to sell weapons worth $60 billion to a number of countries in the Middle East. Saudi Arabia will receive $20 billion worth, Egypt another $13 billion, and even small Gulf states like Qatar and the United Arab Emirates will soon be looking forward to weapons shipments from Washington. The US is introducing massive amounts of weaponry into what is already a sensitive region.

German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier promptly responded with an editorial in Handelsblatt sharply critical of the move. "I do understand the legitimate security interests of the Gulf states, for example," he wrote. "But pumping new weapons into this unstable situation throughout the entire Middle East can hardly be the solution."

As right as he may be, his words are hardly likely to impress the United States. Minor concessions on climate issues are one thing, but accepting advice on matters of security policy is a different story altogether. Once again, Germany finds itself among the powerless who are kept out of the loop, even while its own security interests are at issue.

Averting Disaster in the Middle East

One of former Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer's greatest concerns was that a conflagration in the Middle East could spread to Europe. He was frequently in the Middle East on diplomatic missions. Chancellor Angela Merkel also made it clear that the region would be a focal point of her foreign policy.

Germany wants to be a player in the Middle East and do its part to help avert disaster. This made it all the more upsetting to Berlin that President Bush named Tony Blair, his closest ally in the Iraq war, the new special envoy to the Middle East quartet, a group consisting of the United Nations, the United States, Russia and the EU. Despite the fact that Foreign Minister Steinmeier represented the EU in the quartet at the time, no one consulted him on this important decision, nor was he even notified in advance. There can hardly be a more blatant way of demonstrating the fact that the superpower doesn't perceive Germany as an important player. But despite the slap in the face, the Germans have persevered. "We emphasize political dialogue with all interested parties in the region," Foreign Minister Steinmeier said defiantly.

Steinmeier's statements notwithstanding, Germany is not fundamentally opposed to sending weapons to the fragile region. Saudi Arabia, for example, has been promised 72 Eurofighter jets. The jets will be coming from Great Britain, but German companies are responsible for 30 percent of production.

A few years ago Germany supplied Israel with three of its Dolphin-class submarines, which Berlin-based peace activist Otfried Nassauer believes are also capable of firing missiles armed with nuclear warheads. The same applies to the three submarines German shipbuilders plan to sell to Pakistan. Powered by state-of-the-art fuel cell engines, the vessels are difficult to locate and suitable for prolonged submersion.

Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf's hold on power is not exactly secure, and it is conceivable that radical Islamist rulers could one day gain control over these long-range submarines -- and pose a threat to German national security. Even President Musharraf isn't exactly the sort of person one likes to entrust long-range missiles with, especially given that Pakistan is already a nuclear power. Germany's Greens doubt that Musharraf's regime can satisfy the standards for democracy and human rights to which recipients of arms in the EU and Germany are normally held. Nevertheless, Berlin also plans to provide Musharraf with 250 of its M113 armored personnel carriers.