Sunday, December 26th, 2021
Baerbock wants stricter rules
CDU defends late arms exports
At the last minute, the GroKo approved armaments exports worth billions under the leadership of the CDU. Everything within the legal framework, emphasize the Christian Democrats. The new federal government wants to put a stop to such last-minute deals.
The CDU foreign politician Roderich Kiesewetter defended the approval of armaments exports worth billions shortly before the change of government. “The acting federal government acted within the valid legal framework. That is why the critical voices of the Greens and the left are nothing more than crocodile tears,” said the member of the Bundestag.
It had previously become known that the former federal government of the Union and the SPD had approved arms exports for almost five billion euros in the last days of their term in office. This increases the total volume of export permits to over nine billion euros in the current year – a record. Number one among the recipient countries is by far Egypt, which has been criticized for human rights violations and its involvement in the conflicts in Yemen and Libya.
The new federal government of the SPD, Greens and FDP is now planning a reform of arms export control in order to curb arms deliveries to such so-called third countries outside of the EU and NATO. “As a coalition, we have made it clear that we are reviewing the arms export policy of recent years,” said Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock. “That is why we are working on an arms export control law that makes it clearer which criteria are used to approve arms exports.”
Kiesewetter called for Germany’s security interests to be taken into account. “It is in Germany’s interest if the countries in the Middle East continue to have their armaments policy equipped by EU states. It cannot be in our interest if these states are supplied in future in China or Russia,” he said. “Then we will have no further political influence in the region.”
In order to enable more effective control, a law is to be introduced. So far there are only political guidelines for the approval of arms exports. The Ministry of Economic Affairs under the Greens Vice Chancellor Robert Habeck is currently responsible for the issue. For years, however, there has been a debate as to whether the subject might not be better dealt with in the Foreign Ministry. Baerbock did not take a clear position on this question. However, she pointed out that arms exports cannot be viewed in purely economic terms. “It is also a question of foreign policy, of human rights, of international relations.” Baerbock also wants to advocate joint arms export control at European level. But that was “a thick board,” she admitted. Countries like France are nowhere near as strict as Germany when it comes to approving arms exports.