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The war in Ukraine has triggered enormous soul-searching in Germany, whose initial offer of help was to send helmets.
Two days later amid criticism, Scholz delivered his landmark Zeitenwende speech that promised a turn around in military posture, and committed to spending at least 2 per cent of GDP on defence, as per NATO guidelines.
There are concerns that Scholz is either backtracking on his pledge or going too slowly. NATO estimates that just seven countries will spend 2 per cent or more on defence this year. That includes Germany, Europe’s largest economy, which is expected to keep investment at 1.49 per cent.
By contrast, Greece has boosted its defence spending to 3.54 per cent of its GDP; the United States will spend 3.49 per cent, the largest amount in dollar terms.
Kramp-Karrenbauer said she had pressed for more spending, but Scholz was more focused on reducing debt.
“I think Mr Scholz thought it would not be necessary to put more money in the armed forces, especially when you are not able to make new gaps in the budget, you have to cut other programs and this is what, especially, the political party of Olaf Scholz was and is not willing to do – still.
“It’s absolutely crucial that Germany as the chancellor promised in the last year that we spend 2 per cent of our GDP for security.”
Europe’s largest economy since 1980 and the third-largest in the world has long frustrated US presidents including Barack Obama and Donald Trump who said it should be doing more to guarantee the security of the Continent.
“I guess the saying goes that Europe was dependent on Russian energy, American security and Chinese economy,” Alexander Stubb, former prime minister of Finland, which has just joined NATO said.
Kramp-Karrenbauer said part of Germany’s reluctance to shoulder an appropriate burden lay in the very genesis of NATO.
“I know this view of German politics. I think it has to do with our history, with our tradition.
“The purpose of NATO, stated by the first secretary-general of NATO, was to keep the Russians out, the US in and the Germans down and this is what we have internalised.
“But this is not enough any more,” she said.
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She conceded that Putin’s invasion of Ukraine had come as a big shock in Berlin, despite his annexation of Crimea in 2014.
“Before Crimea we were on the way to the diminishing our armed forces because we say we will live forever in peace and freedom, as Francis Fukuyama said in The End of History,” she said.
“There was no feeling that there was an immediate threat coming from Russia.”
She said Berlin should have listed to the warnings from the Baltic and formerly Soviet-occupied states.
“They told us but we were convinced that the Russian interests and what is at stake in this conflict were too high to start this war in Ukraine so it took us by surprise.”
She urged her country not to make the same mistake when it came to China. Germany is reviewing an earlier decision to allow Chinese investment in its largest port in Hamburg.
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Kramp-Karrenbauer said she opposed it. “We shouldn’t be naive and we should be aware of what is behind this investment.
“We have to define security in the much larger sense. It’s about resilience, it’s about infrastructure. It’s about not being too reliant on autocratic systems like … Nord Stream 2 and Russia.”
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