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Westerwelle's Agenda

German Foreign Minister Has Domestic Ambitions

By Ralf Neukirch

Guido Westerwelle hasn't yet revealed what his agenda will be as Germany's new foreign minister. But one thing is already certain: his role model is Hans-Dietrich Genscher, the elder statesman of the Free Democrat Party. Westerwelle aims to use his new position to enhance his domestic standing -- that's his priority.

In the end, he was so exuberant that he almost put his arm around her. He had already raised his hand, and it was hovering above her hip, about to perform what would have been an intimate gesture. But then he lost his confidence, after all. One doesn't simply put one's arm around one of the most powerful women in the world.

After his first encounter with US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle seemed as euphoric as a law student who has just passed his exams. "We got along well, both politically and personally," Westerwelle said in Washington on Thursday. Clinton's facial expression did not reveal whether she agreed. Westerwelle's US visit was the high point of a long first week in office. A few things can already be said about the new German foreign minister. For one, he is capable of holding a news conference on global politics in the US without making any mistakes. He already has a healthy inventory of diplomatic stock phrases at his disposal, such as "serious offer of dialogue" and "strategic consensus." He even manages to pull off sentences in English without making mistakes.

Based on first impressions, Westerwelle will, at the very least, not embarrass Germany. There is a different problem with Westerwelle: It's about time he explained what exactly he plans to do with his new position. Will his foreign policy include anything resembling a liberal project? "Don't worry," says Westerwelle, "The partners I speak with are familiar with my foreign policy orientation." But that familiarity is unlikely to be anything but superficial.

Finding His Feet

To date, Westerwelle has said little more than the usual clichés. In Paris, he said that he favors close relations with France and, in The Hague, he said that small countries are also important. In Washington, he praised the United States as Germany's most important partner outside Europe. Wherever he goes, he declares that disarmament is a desirable goal -- but only in coordination with allies. If Guido Westerwelle has come to this office with a mission in mind, he has kept it secret so far. But he needs to come up with a meaningful project if he hopes to be a convincing foreign minister like Hans-Dietrich Genscher, the honorary chairman of Westerwelle's Free Democratic Party (FDP), was between 1974 and 1992.

Genscher is the role model Westerwelle now has to live up to. Sitting in a Washington hotel on Thursday evening, the foreign minister takes stock of his first few days in office. His jacket is no longer buttoned up as it was in the first days. He speaks more freely and doesn't seem so constrained by his new diplomatic role. He is slowly beginning to enjoy himself. He can reinvent himself once again, something Westerwelle likes to do. Now that he is the head of a governing he is calmer and more grown-up than he was as the excessively loud opposition leader. In his meetings with Clinton and the European heads of state he spent most of the time listening, he says, noting that one doesn't always have to hold forth.

This is an unfamiliar side of Westerwelle, who sees the office of foreign minister mainly as an opportunity to finally shed his boisterous persona of years gone by: the light-weight image of Guido, the opposition's pitchman. Now he wants to play the part of the statesman, a credible counterpart to the chancellor. But if there was one thing he realized in Washington, it will not be easy.

In Merkel's Shadow

The meeting with Clinton at the State Department was the personal high point of Westerwelle's week. But the most important appearance by a German politician had already taken place by then -- two days earlier, in fact, when Chancellor Angela Merkel gave an extremely well-received speech to a joint session of the US Congress. In fact, Clinton mentioned the address several times in her meeting with Westerwelle, repeatedly saying: "As Chancellor Merkel said…" It was at that point that Westerwelle must have realized that it would be futile to challenge Merkel's dominant role in foreign policy in the coming four years, particularly now that she is comfortable in her role as one of the world's most important leaders. Hardly any other chancellor has used foreign policy to further her domestic goals as consistently as Merkel.

Her favorite roles are those of the tamer of summits and champion of climate protection, and she uses them to bolster her claim to being a presidential chancellor, someone who fights for the welfare of all citizens. She will give Westerwelle little leeway, forcing him to develop niches for himself. The first country Westerwelle visited was Poland, a move that was so well-received that President Lech Kaczynski gave him a personal tour of his offices. Ironically, it was Kaczynski who only a few years ago banned Warsaw's gay pride parade when he was mayor of the Polish capital. Westerwelle presented his credentials in the Netherlands before traveling to Paris. He is the first German foreign minister to have visited his Belgian counterpart in many years.

He supports disarmament, particularly for other countries. These are clever gestures, but they are not the way to develop one's own profile as a foreign minister. Perhaps Westerwelle believes that his approach is sufficient, and that having Hans-Dietrich Genscher, the world's longest-serving foreign minister in his day, as honorary chairman of the FDP will be his ticket to distinction. Genscher is Westerwelle's key advisor. The two men speak by phone almost daily, and sometimes even several times an hour. Westerwelle's strategy is a carbon copy of the concepts that were once developed in Genscher's planning team, concepts like empathy for the weaker members of society and an emphasis on disarmament. It has all been discussed with Genscher. Before Westerwelle traveled to the Netherlands last week, he called the elder statesman in Houston, where he was on a tour, to get his advice. Westerwelle needs Genscher to add luster to his policies.

The Golden Era of 'Genschman"

He mentions his role model's name often, almost as if doing so could somehow lend credence to his own actions: the words "Genscher approved" as a seal of approval for Westerwelle's new, liberal foreign policy. Genschman -- Genscher's nickname in the days when he jetted around the world, from one crisis to the next -- is back. German reunification is his pièce de résistance. But Westerwelle is more inspired by Genscher's record as a domestic politician than as foreign minister. He headed the FDP for 10 years, and he helped ensure the party's survival through a change of coalition governments. The Genscher years are widely viewed as the FDP's golden age. And now Westerwelle wants to launch a similarly prosperous era. Under his leadership, the FDP garnered more than 14 percent of votes in a parliamentary election, a number Genscher never achieved.

Westerwelle wants to use the foreign ministry as a power base, just as Genscher did. A foreign minister inevitably acquires authority, both within the party and among citizens. Westerwelle plans to have established himself in his office by the beginning of next year. Then it will be time to address domestic policy and to resolve conflicts in the coalition government. May 9, the date of the parliamentary election in the western state of North Rhine-Westphalia, will be a critical date for Westerwelle, who wants to prove that even as a governing party, it is possible to make gains in elections. For Westerwelle, this is a goal that will be more important than a foreign policy concept.

Translated from the German by Christopher Sultan