display

Berlin (dpa) - To deepen the relationship between Germany and the USA, the FDP chairman Christian Lindner is calling for fixed joint government consultations in the future.

"The federal government should actively offer the new administration of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris a regular exchange of cabinets," said Lindner of the German press agency in Berlin.

There should not be just occasional meetings between heads of state and government.

"Instead, we should make an offer for an institutional exchange between the German Federal Cabinet and the American ministers - jointly and bilaterally at the technical level."

There are similar government consultations with France, with Israel and with the People's Republic of China.

“But we don't have that with our most important and closest ally, who is essential for our economic development and our security interests.

I think that's a neglect, "said Lindner.

"And the lesson from the years with Donald Trump should be that we will not again allow the Atlantic to become politically wider than it is geographically."

display

With a view to the imminent change of power in the USA, Lindner warned: "We must not indulge in the naivety that the Biden administration's new interest in dialogue and partnership is leading to compromises in Washington's robust interest representation."

However, the four years of Biden / Harris are an opportunity that Germany must use - "to use it to achieve sustainable, fair rules and manners between Europe and the USA".

For example, it is about new talks on transatlantic free trade.

“Getting TTIP out of the icebox won't help.

You have to make a fresh start and see what works, what can you agree on. "

"For us that also means that we have to live up to our responsibility to become interesting again for the USA."

The new US President will also orientate himself towards the Asia-Pacific region, as he began with power under Barack Obama.

"If we want to be attractive again as a point of contact, we have to solve our economic problems in Europe, and we have to make the contributions within our defense alliance that are expected of us and that we have promised."

display

Germany must continue to increase its defense spending in the direction of the promised two percent quota, i.e. two percent of the gross domestic product for defense.

“However, I don't see this as the classic upgrade in the conventional area alone.

Instead, we need to significantly expand our cyber capabilities. "

These are defensive capacities, emphasized Lindner.

"And that's why I don't understand the massive left of center resistance among the SPD and the Greens."

That doesn't mean rebuilding a huge tank army.

"The point is that we develop our defensive capabilities in protecting against the daily and growing attacks on the critical infrastructure in Germany."

Lindner advocated a three percent target: "Three percent for diplomacy, for economic development and for defense."

The FDP chairman criticized: “Measured against our ability to exercise diplomatic soft power, the Foreign Office and the Foreign Service of the Federal Republic of Germany are absolutely underfunded.

We need more diplomatic footprint in the world. "

So Germany should fill the idea with life of networking like-minded societies around the world.

«Japan, Australia, South Korea, Great Britain, the European Union, Canada - these are all countries that, along with the United States, may have an interest in multilateralism again, in a rule-based world peace order.

If you want to bring them together, then of course you have to step up diplomatic efforts, especially in the USA. "

© dpa-infocom, dpa: 210103-99-880596 / 2