Scholz and Baerbock don’t dare to critizise EU and Nato, let alone the US

What lessons do the three candidates for chancellor draw from the Afghanistan disaster? The first “Triell” did not provide convincing answers. Baerbock, Laschet and Scholz propagate a resolute “business as usual”.

All three candidates declared their support for the EU and NATO – without any ifs or buts. They also called for a strengthening of Germany’s role in security policy – in other words, more money for the Bundeswehr. Laschet also wants a “national security council”.

The fact that the EU and Nato have also failed in Afghanistan did not occur to any of the three leading candidates. On the contrary: Baerbock wants to make Nato even “stronger”. And Scholz demands that the Left swear allegiance to the Atlantic Alliance.

Yet Nato has not only proved to be “brain-dead” (France’s Macron), but also incapable of acting. It has followed the USA at every turn in Afghanistan and in the end was not even able to ensure an orderly evacuation in Kabul.

The EU has not covered itself with glory either. The “geopolitical commission” in Brussels has been in hiding for days, the foreign ministers are not playing a role, the interior ministers are arguing about a possible wave of refugees. “Save yourself” is the motto.

I would have expected the candidates to address these problems and formulate alternatives. NATO needs a new start, without Secretary General Stoltenberg. Since he is leaving soon anyway, it would be easy to say so – but no one dared.

In the EU, there is talk of “strategic autonomy”; France has been calling for a European defence for years. Industry Commissioner Breton has just reiterated this demand. After Afghanistan, an EU defence is not an option, but a must.

But Baerbock, Laschet and Scholz are avoiding this debate as well. They want to strengthen the German role and rearm the Bundeswehr. However, they do not want to change anything about the outdated structures in the EU and Nato.

And criticism of the USA, which is responsible for the Afghanistan debacle, is not even heard from this Triell…

Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version) The original post (in German) is here