The following is an exclusive translation from the Financial Times Deutschland (the original article can be read on our German blog). See our earlier post of another story from the German press.
Berlin Turns Into Russia’s Lawyer
Foreign Minister Steinmeier Urges Consideration of Moscow in NATO Enlargement • Berlin and Washington on a Confrontation Course
By Hubert Wetzel, Nils Kreimeier, Berlin, and Fidelius Schmid, Bucharest
Russia’s adamant opposition to the admission of Georgia and Ukraine to NATO was apparently an important motive for the German government to pit itself against the U.S. government and to prevent the two countries from being declared candidates for accession at the alliance’s summit in Bucharest. The West has already “gone to the limit in its relations with Russia” by recognizing the independence of the Serbian province of Kosovo, something vehemently rejected by Moscow, Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier (Social Democratic Party) told the Leipziger Volkszeitung.
After this dispute, there is "no compelling reason" to antagonize Russia by having NATO offer Georgia and Ukraine a Membership Action Plan (MAP) in Bucharest. A MAP is the most important preliminary step for full membership in NATO.
With these remarks, Steinmeier deviated from the official explanation for the German government’s position in the dispute over enlargement. Up to now, the German refusal of a MAP for Kiev and Tbilisi was based on domestic problems in both countries. Berlin and Paris are at the top forefront of a group of West European NATO countries that reject a MAP for Georgia and Ukraine.
However, in Berlin, fear of a negative Russian reaction was described with general formulations – for example, in enlargement NATO has to consider the “all-European security situation.” In this way, the impression was to be avoided that Russia had a veto in NATO enlargement.
Even more than Steinmeier, Chancellor Angela Merkel (Christian Democratic Union) has avoided paying tribute to Russia’s opposition in public. In a speech on March 10, Merkel based her rejection of a MAP for Kiev and Tbilisi solely on the fact that, in the case of Ukraine, the majority of the population was against NATO accession and, in the case of Georgia, the secessionist provinces of Abkhazia and South Ossetia could bring unresolved territorial conflicts into NATO.
“I am of the opinion that a country should only be a member of NATO not only if the political leadership at a given moment supports this membership, but if there is qualitatively significant support for NATO membership among the population as well,” Merkel said in March. And: “Countries that are themselves involved in regional and internal conflicts cannot in my view be a member of NATO.” However, the alliance determines enlargement on its own, she said. “That means: not others, for example, Russia.”
Steinmeier may well have stressed in the Leipziger Volkszeitung that Moscow had no veto in enlargement. In Bucharest, he said in addition that Moscow’s opposition was not decisive in Germany’s position. Foreign policy experts for Germany’s Union parties criticized him nonetheless.
The reference to Moscow’s position is “extremely unfortunate”, Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg, a member of the Bundestag for the Christian Social Union, told The Financial Times Deutschland. That gives the impression that Russia has been granted an indirect veto, he said.
The foreign policy spokesman of the Union parties’ joint parliamentary group in the Bundestag, Eckart von Klaeden, expressed himself similarly. “It is wrong, to make the question of MAP dependent on Russian behaviour. That stirs the impression among the hawks in the Kremlin that they can influence NATO’s decisions,” he said.
By contrast, Ruprecht Polenz (Christian Democratic Union), chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee in the Bundestag, basically agreed with Steinmeier. It is resonable to make clear to the new Russian president, Dmitry Medvedev, that “NATO is no longer the same organization as in 1988,” he told The Financial Times Deutschland. For that reason, the alliance should take its time and not yet grant Kiev and Tbilisi MAP.
However, Polenz criticized Steinmeier’s argument that with the recognition of Kosovo enough had been expected of Russia. “It’s rather the other way around,” he said, “because Russia has done nearly everything to make life more difficult.” European diplomats confirm this view.
Yesterday in Bucharest, Merkel did not back down from the German position in the dispute over Georgia and Ukraine. “We believe the time for MAP has not yet been reached,” she said. Beforehand, U.S. President George W. Bush had said, “NATO should welcome Georgia and Ukraine with a Membership Action Plan.”
