Conflicting views over historic shift on military spending, other issues, will need to be debated, the expert says.
Following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, German chancellor Olaf Scholz announced an increase in military spending, constituting a major shift in Germany’s foreign and security policy. On the German TV news show Tagesthemen on 16 March, Hertie School Professor of Communication in Politics and Civil Society Andrea Römmele spoke on the consequences for the cohesion of the three government parties.
“There is a great deal of rumbling within the Social Democratic Party regarding the turnaround in foreign and security policy. There are also voices within the Green Party who do not support it,” Römmele said. In the past, both parties did not support a strong military," Römmele said. “In this respect, there will really be a lot of debate and a lot of convincing to do again after the crisis.” Chancellor Scholz’s announcement of an increase in military spending has publicly been perceived as a historic shift towards a stronger military, after spending was scaled back when the Cold War ended in the 1990s.
Watch her comment here (12:40, in German).
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Andrea Römmele, Dean of Executive Education and Professor of Communication in Politics and Civil Society