BERLIN/BRUSSELS
A high ranking Social Democrat is demanding more military spending and the lowering of civil protection standards within the European Union. Instead of subsidising food Europe should invest in weapons said Michael Dauderstadt, the Director of the Friedrich Ebert Foundation’s publication “International Political Analysis” in an interview. Thus 46 billion Euros would flwo to the armaments industry, creating jobs and “more social justice”. This shrill Social Democrat bellicosity is a sign of further budget battles within the EU which despite bureaucratic resistance follows the German model.
To the question whether “more money should go to armaments and less to agriculture” Dauderstadt replied in the name of the Friedrich Ebert Foundation (the SPD’s fund raiser, think tank and propagandist at home and abroad) “Canon instead of butter – exactly. The EU spent in 2002 about 46 billion Euros on agriculture. That is a socially unjust, backward policy which harms the poor. The money would be better invested in armaments” because ” armaments produce new products and technologies” said the Social Democrat.
URGENTLY NEEDED
Such a policy would particularly affect the interests of Mediterranean countries whose agricultural production would collapse without EU subsidies. This applies to France and Italy as well as Greece and Spain. Partly with and partly against France Berlin has long sought to reduce those subsidies and have them directed more towards German industry where the collapse in production has made such support necessary. That is why Berlin has been driving the so called “European Growth Initiative” with Paris and their dependents Belgium and Luxembourg (4). (No one is more responsible for the reduction in growth than the farcical monetary and fiscal policies of France and Germany in support of the unsustainable Euro!)
The German attitude to the EU is leading to massive economic disruption and faces resistance among other EU members. Berlin and Paris are continually procuring competitive advantages by not (or not immediately) implementing EU guidelines. As EU internal market commissioner Fritz Bolkestein points out, Germany and France have not yet implemented 3.5% of such guidelines – by far the largest percentage of all EU countries. Such behaviour was “unfair to the other member states which manage to adopt EU regulations in time” declared the Dutch EU Commissioner of the Franco-German “Directorate”.
The opinions of critical parts of the EU bureaucracy, who are usually representatives of those States which are victims of German behaviour, are of little concern to Berlin. For instance the announcement by the Spanish EU Commissioner Solbes that Spain would lay an official complaint against the breaking of the Stability Pact by France and Germany, was countered with threats. Berlin said it would be “better to avoid confrontation with EU organs”. The German press accused Commission president Prodi of “failing to understand his office and autistic and chaotic management”. “Political success in the EU is only possible if you have the heads of government of Germany and France on your side” stated the German edition of the Financial Times (NB the most eurofanatic and federalist newspaper in Britain which has lost a large part of its circulation in recent years -ed)
OPEN PREPARATIONS FOR WAR
Commissioner Solbes criticism of the breaking of the Stability Pact made it easier for Germany to maintain its defence budget and then raise it within three years by almost one thousand million Euro. The financial proposals of the SPD’s Friedrich Ebert Foundation are working in the same direction. In addition they add political weight to solutions which might escape the economic crisis by preparations for coming conflicts. (NB The Washington Declaration whereby Germany joined the USA in asserting the right to preventive wars – despite Germany’s virulent opposition to war against Iraq!)
Quellen:
EU-Richter sollen Machtkampf über Defizite entscheiden; reuters 13.01.2004
Kolumne: Mit Juncker auf Nummer sicher; Financial Times Deutschland 15.01.2004
GERMAN CHANCELLOR SEEKS ECONOMIC AND POLITICAL POWER IN AFRICA
The following article from german-foreign-policy shows how the above ideas are being used to justify German economic and military expansion into Africa – not least in States where traditionally the USA, the UK (but not so much France undoubtedly due to a Franco German agreement) have had primary influence.
ADDIS ABEBA/NAIROBI
The German Chancellor has begun his Africa trip with talks in Ethiopia and Kenya.
Both countries are close allies of the USA and are regarded as strategically important partners on the southern flank of the Islamic area of influence. In order to exploit the African periphery for raw materials for the EU, Chancellor Schroeder is seeking the removal of trade barriers and is demanding the reduction of EU subsidies in Europe.
The funds should instead be directed to the military arsenal in order to realize the “responsibility of the Europeans in Africa”! Germany would promote such a policy “in its own interest” and seek to remove trade restrictions “for agricultural products from African countries”, declared Schroeder in Ethiopia.
As a possible first step Schroeder mentioned a reduction in the subsidies for cotton production in Spain and Greece. (Unbelievable arrogance given the massive subsidies to German and French Farmers for other products) In that, said Schroeder, he was at one with the French President. The reduction in subsidies would open the way for cheap comparable African products and for the expansion of the EU’s military budget which Berlin has demanded.
Promotion of Investment
In Ethiopia Schroeder signed an investment promotion agreement which permits preferential conditions for German corporations. German firms have shown interest in such investment after the Ethiopian Government introduced measures to liberalise the economy and promote privatisation. The German Foreign Office is critical of Ethiopia “dragging its feet” on investment but nevertheless sees good prospects for German influence there. The country is undoubtedly seen as a close ally of the USA but earns 10% of its export earnings in Germany, the largest importer of its goods.
Privileged Partnership
The German Chancellor also wants to establish a “privileged partnership” with Kenya. As early as October 2003 the German minister of State in the Foreign Office, Frau Mueller, was informed about Kenya’s regional policy. The German adviser to the Chancellor Muetzelburg, is said to have good contacts in Nairobi: he had done much for opposition forces during his time as Ambassador there in the early 1990s and these were now in the new Government. The Kenyan Secretary of State responsible for the fight against corruption is advised by German experts (and this from the leading pillar of the most corrupt institution in the democratic West – the European Union whose annual accounts have been criticised by auditors for 9 consecutive years and which have been described by some EU accountants as “un-auditable”!) A Similar advisory role and cooperation is to be established between the German Intelligence Services (BND) and the parallel organisation in Kenya.
“Responsibility of Europeans”
Foreign policy commentators in Berlin note that the German Chancellor’s Africa trip began in two countries closley allied with the USA (and in the case of Kenya a former British colony -ed) On the other hand the Germans have excluded countries which are in the French sphere of influence.
The Chancellor’s Africa visit, commentators have noted, is taking place at a time when the great powers – for among other reasons new discoveries of raw materials – are seeking to extend their influence in the whole African continent.
It was German Defence Minister Struck who asserted that “Africa is a European responsibility” which is a variant of traditional German Geopolitics(particularly strong in the Nazi period and in the 1950s under Adenauer – ed) which saw Africa as the “complementary area” of their central European empire.
Sources:
Staatsministerin Müller trifft kenianischen Außenminister; Pressemitteilung des Auswärtigen Amts, www.auswaertiges-amt.de 10.10.2004
Schröder und die ,,schwarzen Löcher” Afrikas; tageszeitung 15.01.2004
Auf dem Weg; Tagesspiegel 17.01.2004
,,Frieden, Stabilität und Demokratie – gemeinsame Herausforderungen für die Zukunft Afrikas”; Rede von Bundeskanzler Gerhard Schröder vor der Afrikanischen Union, www.bundesregierung.de 19.01.2004
Schröder setzt sich in Afrika für offene Märkte ein; Handelsblatt 19.01.2004
