Helmut Schäfer (Minister of State at German Foreign Office 1987-1998)
Edmund Stoiber (Bavarian Prime Minister 1993-2007)
Horst Teltschik (Chairman of the Munich Security Conference 1999-2008)
Günter Verheugen (EU Commissioner 1999-2010)
Antje Vollmer (Vice President of the German Bundestag 1994-2005)
A collapse of the relationship between the West and Russia could jeopardize global stability.
We are watching with great concern the worsening conflict between Russia and the West. Mutual sanctions, the closure of institutions and dialogue forums, which once served the purpose of understanding and cooperation, follow in an ever faster pace. In the meantime, we are dealing with a worrying alienation. The relationship is determined by mutual blame, suspicion and military threats.
Against this background, it would be helpful if we all remember that the end of the Cold War has been proclaimed by both sides. The word of the „Common House Europe“ should still be as present to us as with Putin’s speech to the German Bundestag in 2001, in which he made a long-term and comprehensive offer of cooperation.
No sensible alternative to equal partnership
We tend to ignore our part of the responsibility for the failure of a pan-European project so far. The key question is whether the West wants to recognize Russia as an equal partner in all global issues or not. From our point of view, there is no sensible alternative to equal partnership.
Many Western Europeans today are alarmed and fear war. Many consider Russia as a danger. Conversely, the majority of Russians wrongly view their country as pilloried by the West. They do not understand why this course is particularly supported by Germany, the country that was once the main engine of the detente policy that had contributed significantly to German reunification and the concept of a common European peace order. The promise of the end of the Cold War in the Charter of Paris (1990) has never been fulfilled. Instead, summoning a Russian threat will trigger a new rearmament offensive.
The spiral of action and countermeasures is increasingly breaking away from the real reasons and occasions.
Germany and the EU should take the initiative
Contrary to what was thought after the end of the Cold War, today the world situation is characterized by disorder and unpredictability. A collapse of Western-Russian relations and the demolition of almost all discussion forums also threatens to jeopardize the rest of global stability.
The memory of two world wars with millions of dead is fading. The rhetorical escalation and the production of enemy images in politics and the media is not without effect.
What matters most now is the overcoming of speechlessness. All conflicts and disputes with Russia must be talked about openly, without preconditions, prejudices and threats. We should develop a policy based solely on international law and shared responsibility for the destiny of all humanity. Germany and the European Union should take the initiative. The idea of a pan-European partnership is not new, but it is waiting to be realized. That is the correct and principle foreign policy topic of this legislature. Who does not want to see that, is blind to the danger of a third and final world war.
