The federal government will apparently not set up a national security council. According to information from theSpiegelDespite months of negotiations, Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) and Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock (Greens) could not have agreed on where the new body would be located, who would lead it and how it would be staffed. The Chancellery and the Foreign Ministry each saw responsibility as their own.
The original idea: the Security Council should improve coordination between the Chancellery and the ministries on foreign policy issues. It should be enshrined in the “National Security Strategy” that is currently in the works.
However, it was decided not to pursue the “national security council” project, according to the “Spiegel”. The idea was off the table, according to the circles of the negotiators. According to information from the Tagesspiegel, the agreement failed primarily because of the question of who should ultimately be responsible for a national security council.
As the “Spiegel” continues to write, the Foreign Ministry is relieved that it does not have to cede any further powers to the Chancellery, where important decisions are already being made, for example on European policy and support for Ukraine.
Without a Security Council, they now want to limit themselves to the existing security policy formats, which include the Security Cabinet of ministers.
Another point of contention was the establishment of the goal of spending two percent of economic output on defense. According to “Spiegel”, the goal is expressly mentioned in the current draft of the confidential paper on the “National Security Strategy”.
However, there is no link between increasing spending on defense and investments in diplomacy and development cooperation, as demanded by the Greens. Instead, we are talking about an expanded understanding of security. (Tsp/ame)
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