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Berlin (dpa) - After the storm on the Capitol in Washington, Federal Foreign Minister Heiko Maas offered the United States closer cooperation in the fight for democracy.
«We must not give space to the enemies of liberal democracy.
This applies not only in the USA, but also here in Germany and Europe, ”said the SPD politician of the German Press Agency.
"We are ready to work with the USA on a joint Marshall Plan for democracy."
The Marshall Plan was a US economic reconstruction program for European countries after World War II.
The Federal Republic of Germany had particularly benefited from this.
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Protests by angry supporters of Trump in the capital Washington escalated on Wednesday and at times plunged the political center of the United States into unprecedented chaos.
Maas, Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier and Chancellor Angela Merkel (CDU) had already made the outgoing US President Donald Trump jointly responsible for the violence on Thursday.
Future President Joe Biden, who is due to be sworn in on January 20th, spoke of an unprecedented attack on democracy.
Maas promised Biden that he could rely on Germany in the fight for democracy.
"Without democracy in the US, there would be no democracy in Europe," he said.
"Tackling the social divisions in our countries by the roots is one of the greatest future tasks for Americans and Europeans."
Biden recognized this, promised US reconciliation and announced the formation of a network of democracies, Maas said.
He pointed out that Germany was working in a similar direction with the “Alliance for Multilateralism” that he helped initiate.
"Because the belief in solidarity, in democracy as the most humane form of government and in the persuasiveness of science and reason can only be preserved if we work together."
There are no better, closer, more natural partners for this in the 21st century than America and Europe.
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During the election campaign for the first year of his term in office, Biden announced a “global summit for democracy” in order to counter the threat to the common values of democratic states.
Among other things, this should include the protection of human rights, securing elections and fighting corruption.
With the “Alliance for Multilateralism” in 2019, Maas set up a network of around 60 states that work together in different compositions on various topics.
He deliberately does not want his initiative to be understood as a fixed group of states with summits such as the G7 or G20, but as a loose and flexible association of countries that campaign for international cooperation and international institutions.
© dpa-infocom, dpa: 210109-99-952444 / 2
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Biden's foreign policy program from the election campaign
Alliance for Multilateralism