German defense minister urges active military role
November 7, 2019
The Bundeswehr should be deployed proactively abroad, the defense minister said. She has pledged to bump defense spending to 2% of GDP by 2031, which could make Germany the third largest defense spender in the world.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/P. Pleul
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Germany greatly benefits from the rules-based global order and should do more to secure its success, German Defense Minister Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer said in a speech delivered Thursday at the Bundeswehr University in Munich
Kramp-Karrenbauer noted that allies are increasingly asking for Berlin to play a proactive role in global security.
"A country of our size, with our economic and technological power, our geostrategic position and global interests, cannot just stand on the sidelines and watch," she said. "Germany must participate in international debates and drive them forward."
She pledged to boost defense spending to 2% of GDP, a NATO target, by 2031. While it would be well behind the 2024 goal, it could eventually make Germany the third largest defense spender in the world, behind the US and China. For now, Germany would try to reach 1.5% of GDP by 2024, she added.
The defense minister, who also serves as head of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), said she plans to move forward with the formation of a national security council in recognition of Germany's strategic interests.
In an earlier interview with the Süddeutsche Zeitung, she urged Berlin to take an increasingly active role in military engagements abroad.
Germany must "openly deal with the fact that we, like every other country in the world, have our own strategic interests," Kramp-Karrenbauer told the Süddeutsche Zeitung.
Establishing a more engaged Bundeswehr remains a divisive topic among the German publicImage: picture-alliance/dpa/M. Gambarini
'Our responsibility'
But her proposal was met with caution from other Cabinet members. Foreign Minister Heiko Maas said the idea of a more assertive German military required robust support from European allies.
"Above all, we must define our responsibility on a European basis," Maas told public broadcaster ZDF. "That means that we don't just take care of our own issues alone, but rather that we as part of Europe play a leading role in competition between superpowers."
Germany has often taken a back seat in foreign military engagements, largely because of constitutional restrictions put in place to prevent similar atrocities to those committed during World War II.
But Germany's allies, including the US, have urged the country to take on more responsibilities concerning collective security in NATO and the EU.
Since West Germany's accession to NATO, Berlin has supported numerous operations involving the trans-Atlantic alliance. Since 1990, Germany's Bundeswehr has been deployed on "out of area" missions as well.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/M. Hanschke
Germany's role in NATO
West Germany officially joined the trans-Atlantic alliance in 1955. However, it wasn't until after reunification in 1990 that the German government considered "out of area" missions led by NATO. From peacekeeping to deterrence, Germany's Bundeswehr has since been deployed in several countries across the globe in defense of its allies.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/M. Hanschke
Bosnia: Germany's first NATO mission
In 1995, Germany participated in its first "out of area" NATO mission as part of a UN-mandated peacekeeping mission in Bosnia and Herzegovina. During the deployment, German soldiers joined other NATO member forces to provide security in the wake of the Bosnian War. The peacekeeping mission included more than 60,000 troops from NATO's member states and partners.
Image: picture alliance/AP Photo/H. Delic
Keeping the peace in Kosovo
Since the beginning of the NATO-led peacekeeping mission in Kosovo, some 8,500 German soldiers have been deployed in the young country. In 1999, NATO launched an air assault against Serbian forces accused of carrying out a brutal crackdown against ethnic Albanian separatists and their civilian supporters. Approximately 550 Bundeswehr troops are still stationed in Kosovo.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/V.Xhemaj
Patrolling the Aegean Sea
In 2016, Germany deployed its combat support ship "Bonn" to lead a NATO mission backed by the EU in the Aegean Sea. The mission included conducting "reconnaissance, monitoring and surveillance of illegal crossings" in Greek and Turkish territorial waters at the height of the migration crisis. Germany, Greece and Turkey had requested assistance from the trans-Atlantic alliance.
Image: picture alliance/AP Photo/M.Schreiber
Nearly two decades in Afghanistan
In 2003, Germany's parliament voted to send Bundeswehr troops to Afghanistan in support of the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF). Germany became the third-largest contributor of troops and led the Regional Command North. More than 50 German troops were killed during the mission. Germany withdrew the last of its troops in June 2021 as part of the US-led exit from Afghanistan.
Image: picture alliance/AP Photo/A.Niedringhaus
German tanks in Lithuania
Forming part of NATO's "enhanced forward presence" in the Baltic states, 450 Bundeswehr soldiers have been deployed to Lithuania since 2017. The battalion-size battlegroups there are led by Germany, Canada, the UK and US to reinforce collective defense on the alliance's eastern flank. It forms the "biggest reinforcement of Alliance collective defense in a generation," according to NATO.
