Former Munich Security Conference leader Wolfgang Ischinger has expressed concerns that the issue of transatlantic tensions and the resulting security concerns is being underemphasized in the current German election campaign.
Speaking to the Phoenix broadcaster, Ischinger said, “What we’re experiencing might be a historical epochal break. The end of the credibility of the transatlantic alliance could be the case, I’m saying it extra in the conditional. The dice are not yet cast in stone.”
However, he was surprised and dismayed that the topic is being barely mentioned, if at all, in the ongoing election campaign. According to Ischinger, the issue should be at the center of attention for Germans and Europeans, as “if a kind of security policy rubble field were to emerge, then goodnight.”
Looking at the role of Europe, Ischinger stated that it shows that, as 27 EU members, they are not capable of acting in foreign and security policy. Europe is currently presenting itself, in the case of Ukraine, like a “henhouse.” He advocates for the revival of the idea of a core Europe. “I believe that Germany, France, Poland and other like-minded people should come together to form a genuine security and defense union, with majority decisions, with a common arms market, to show the world that we have the existential will to survive” said the former diplomat.
Regarding a common European army, Ischinger spoke of a “future vision.” “A common army is still a long and distant road, but to buy weapons and material together, to train soldiers together, to maintain equipment and aircraft together, that is all possible and that can be done in relatively short time” Ischinger said.
What is important, he emphasized, is the establishment of a common arms and defense market. Currently, each country “buys small quantities of aircraft and equipment somewhere, that is money thrown out the window. Europe can act together and save a lot of money and make an impression on the rest of the world.” The US, he added, cannot ask Europe to spend five percent on defense, while no longer being available like before and at the same time demand: “You have to buy everything from us.