There is a power vacuum in Europe and it is significantly larger than it was a decade ago. That’s what political affairs director Han ten Broeke of The Hague Center for Strategic Studies in BNR’s Big Five says. According to Ten Broeke, Germany is mainly concerned with itself, but Europe cannot save itself without German help. “What we need now is to take security and defense one step further.”
According to Ten Broeke, under Merkel it was clear: she was willing to sacrifice a lot of German money and interests to tow the German wagon. This changed completely under Scholz. The German Foreign Minister is now in Delhi to strengthen ties with India, Scholz had a tête-à -tête with Xi Jinping last month and Germany recently signed a mega contract with Qatar for the supply of LNG in the next 15 years.
All entrances
“Germans are very busy with themselves. They see that Germany needs to choose for itself for its economy, survival and welfare state. He doesn’t opt ​​for Europe, but Europe cannot survive without the Germans,” says Ten Broeke.
It would therefore be obvious that France would lead the European bandwagon, but nobody wants that. “There is some kind of limiter on France, nobody allows the French to become some kind of hyperpuissance, which is Berlin-Paris in the doldrums.” At the same time, the Dutch position is accelerating; “The Netherlands can decide whether something is going a little faster or slower.” But a leadership position is not an option for the Netherlands.
The oilman Rutte
In short: Macron is not allowed, Scholz does not want it and Rutte does not. This does not mean that Rutte is very active under the European hood. «Rutte travels many air miles, flies more than his foreign minister. He is an oilman. What we know from The Hague, he does now in Europe.’
Ten Broeke wonders if Scholz might need more time, but at the same time adds that he has little hope that the chancellor will turn into a kind of Angela Merkel. Yet someone will have to pick up that European leadership, because there is a large number of dossiers to work on. The most important according to Ten Broeke: security and defense. “We have to step up to that.”
Listen to the full conversation with Han ten Broeke here
UK anxious
However, easier said than done, a common foreign and security policy for the EU is difficult. “This is not possible without France, Germany and the British. They are located outside Europe, but strangely they are preparing to take a step backwards in the geopolitical field. Sunak finds his biggest Brexit fears are coming true. The British are losing influence every day, they see that the only ship they can still hook up with is the European flotilla.’
According to Ten Broeke, to make progress in the fields of defense and security, it is necessary to make a distinction between European foreign policy and security or defense policy. And there is no role for the non-existent joint European armed forces, but all the more for NATO.
European Council
‘In foreign policy we should move towards a European Security Council, a sort of broad European council of heads of government. This is the crisis advice, where occasionally you can also ask non-EU countries that share our continent, such as the British”.
‘European defense is only possible by establishing a European pillar within the non-civilian EU, read: NATO. Because that’s where soldiers speak each other’s languages, where they practice with each other, where they share equipment and where they are effective.’
Source: BNR
Sharon Rock is an author and journalist who writes for 24 News Globe. She has a passion for learning about different cultures and understanding the complexities of the world. With a talent for explaining complex global issues in an accessible and engaging way, Sharon has become a respected voice in the field of world news journalism.
