Europe’s cooperation with the Libyan coast guard: The German Foreign Ministry is sticking to it even under green leadership. No party was as opposed to it as the Greens.
Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock visits a refugee camp in Niger in April.
Oliver Maksan is the editor of the NZZ in Germany.
You are reading an excerpt from the weekday newsletter “The Other View”, today from Oliver Maksan, editor in the Berlin office of the NZZ. Subscribe to the newsletter for free. Not resident in Germany? Benefit here.
Since the Greens entered the German federal government, reality has demanded a lot from the party. The laurels of power withered a little more with every toad she had to swallow. Economics Minister Robert Habeck had to travel to Qatar, which is rich in energy but poor in democracy, to organize liquid gas for Germany. He was also forced to reactivate coal-fired power plants to save gas. And now the party is debating with an openness that weeks ago would not have been possible about an extension of the service life for the last German nuclear power plants.
Of course, what the green leadership spends on pragmatism in the area of energy policy, they recoup in socio-political terms. Ideologues proposed by the Greens, such as anti-discrimination officer Ferda Ataman or queer officer Sven Lehmann, ensure this just as reliably as the family ministry led by Lisa Paus.
No one was more opposed to cooperation with Libya than the Greens
But reality doesn’t let up. Secretly, in dry official German, there are also indications of a realpolitik change of course in migration policy. The Foreign Ministry, led by the Green Annalena Baerbock, has now informed WDR that Libya is obliged under international law to organize and coordinate sea rescue in its area of responsibility. The Federal Foreign Office expressly recognizes the system of the Libyan search and rescue zone installed in cooperation with Europe, even under green leadership – and thus also the returns to Libya from international waters.
What sounds technical has a very real background: migrants from numerous countries are trying to enter the EU illegally via the Mediterranean route. They embark on unseaworthy ships and endanger their lives. The work of private sea rescuers often forms a unit together with smugglers. While there is of course no alternative to sea rescue, the pull of this practice must be stopped. The cooperation with Libya, which Baerbock is now sticking to, serves this purpose.
No other party campaigned against it like the Greens – led by the then party leader Baerbock. “Europe is in danger of continuing to say goodbye to its value structure,” she said in 2018. “Anyone who relies on rejection on the high seas to transfer people to the Libyan coast guard is breaking international law.” That wasn’t right even then. According to a 2017 report by the Bundestag’s Scientific Service the Libyan Coast Guard may very well transport rescued people back to Libya. Only foreign sea rescue ships are denied this.
The fact that Baerbock is now acting differently, despite the expected criticism from his own party and probably with a lot of abdominal pain, shows a sense of responsibility. The Green chief diplomat knows that Europe, which is under multiple pressures, cannot afford a new migration debate. European solidarity will be tested again and again in the coming months in the face of energy shortages. It will also take all our strength to maintain European unity towards Russia. In this respect, Baerbock’s about-face is to be welcomed in the interests of Europe and Germany.
Big heart, limited possibilities
It was the Greens, however, who for years raised the bar on moral issues and denounced every pragmatic objection. In doing so, they have contributed to making migration policy debates in Germany more difficult, if not impossible. It was never about a cynical renunciation of morals, but about a responsible balance between values and what host countries can achieve. “Our hearts are big, our possibilities are limited,” was how former Federal President Joachim Gauck put it in a nutshell – bitter as it may be in view of the human rights situation in Libya.
Incidentally, it is perfectly fine for parties to have a hard core of convictions, in fact it is necessary for democracy. One cannot accuse the Union under Angela Merkel of clearing away core positions one after the other and at the same time criticize the Greens for clinging to their ideal silverware. The fine line of pragmatism runs between opinion-driven populism of the center à la Merkel and ideological stubbornness. In the interests of Germany, the Greens will hopefully continue to walk it.