A "pragmatic" chancellor
When Angela Merkel arrived at the Chancellery in 2005, Germany was in a difficult economic situation, with high unemployment and sluggish growth. Global crises are then added to national crises: "subprime", migrant flows and, more recently, Covid-19. But each time, the Chancellor acts with "pragmatism", affirms Joachim Bitterlich, because "it is one of the characteristics of Angela Merkel: she listens to each other first and she waits for the best moment to take a decision." During the recent Covid-19 crisis, the Chancellor thus accepted the principle of a common debt, after opposing it during the economic crisis of the late 2000s.
Because Germany is the biggest contributor to the Union and its citizens "wonder if everything that is done at European level is really justified", says the former adviser.
Even if it "has always been in favor of European construction, Germany keeps the idea in mind that it is on its back, with its money", confides Joachim Bitterlich.
An idea, according to him, "exaggerated".
Which coalition for Europe?
On January 1, 2022, Paris takes over the rotating presidency of the EU and wants to push its priorities: a Europe of defense, more federal, and the relaxation of the Stability Pact. The Franco-German engine is central to moving Europe forward and, for Joachim Bitterlich, "the worst for Europe, for European defense and for the advancement of the European Union would be a 'red-red-green' coalition '(Die Linke-SPD-Die Grünen, NDLR) "in Germany. A very left-wing coalition, "anti-NATO but above all anti-nuclear, whether military or civilian", while the country wants to achieve carbon neutrality in 2045 with a 65% drop in 2030. For Joachim Bitterlich, the future government must find "an honorable way out of a battered energy policy".But the Greens are not considering returning to nuclear power for the time being in a Germany whose energy leitmotif has for many years been "Hands off the coal". However, "a reflection and a commitment are necessary on a true European policy of energy", insists it.
However, some member states are worried about the possibility of Germany tipping over into the "frugal" camp if the Liberal Democratic Party (FDP) enters into a coalition, as its members would insist on returning to the strict rules. of the Stability Pact. Joachim Bitterlich is "not afraid of this coalition", because the FDP "is well aware that this pact will have to be modernized". The diplomat says, however, that Paris should be aware that renegotiation will be difficult to do during the French presidency of the EU since "France will not be able to act between the month of February and the month of May" because of the presidential election. of the month of April. "The Parisian strategists are making a mistake here," he analyzes. Joachim Bitterlich hopes however "that Germany will take charge to form a government that will once again be able to work with France, on a European scale and with its allies ".
European defense
While France has been grappling for a week with Australia over the submarine crisis file, General Eberhard Zorn, German Chief of Staff, welcomes the signing of a letter of intent for a "Military Space Partnership" between the two countries. A few hours earlier, Michael Roth, the German Foreign Minister, also called for strengthening the sovereignty and strategic autonomy of the European Union. As a former German ambassador to NATO, Joachim Bitterlich regrets the bad timing of what he describes as "awkwardness". But "Europe has no policy vis-à-vis China, or vis-à-vis the region", he regrets. According to him, "the Germans have expressed the wish for a European strategy in the Indo-Pacific region "to" develop a European policy there in accordance with the French objective ".
Program prepared by Isabelle Romero, Yi Song, Perrine Desplats and Céline Schmitt.
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