BSW Founder Sahra Wagenknecht has called on the German government and the EU not to be intimidated by US President-elect Donald Trump in their defense and security policies. “Donald Trump only understands the language of self-awareness and also of a self-aware politics” Wagenknecht told the TV channel “Welt” in response to Trump’s demand that NATO member states increase their defense spending to five percent of their GDP. “We must not let ourselves be intimidated by Donald Trump.”
She believes that increasing military spending will not lead to greater defense policy security. “I find this arms race competition, ‘Who can write the biggest checks,’ really sick.” The German military must be able to defend the country, Wagenknecht said. “But the problem of the German military is not primarily a lack of money, but rather a problem of an opaque procurement process, a massive lobbying of the arms companies, and also dependencies of politicians, so that then much too high prices are paid and sometimes even much money is lost in completely opaque channels, senseless things are ordered.”
Wagenknecht pointed out differences in the interests of the US and Europe. “We see how the United States, whose influence in the world is generally declining, with ever greater impertinence is pushing for its power and dominance against its own allies, also putting its own interests, US interests, above our interests” said the BSW chief. “And that of course shows that Europe should finally represent its own interests. The European Union is currently a complete failure, and German politics should really focus on: What are the interests of our country?”
The interests of the parties are fundamentally different in Europe and the US, Wagenknecht said. “The main interest is that we must do everything to prevent a great European war, to prevent a war with the nuclear power Russia, because we would not survive it here in Europe. For the US, thousands of kilometers away, it’s a different situation.” It is therefore necessary “that we finally represent our own interests and do not subordinate ourselves to this vassalage, always doing what the United States says, but we have different interests in Europe and we also have different interests in Germany” said the party founder.
Wagenknecht spoke out for a reorientation of the defense partnerships. “We need a defense alliance, a really defensive one. There, the European states should come together. There, if it is done on an equal footing, the US can also be there.