Germany is preparing a "national security strategy" with its citizens

German soldiers of the Bundeswehr, members of NATO's enhanced forward presence battalion, at the Rukla military base, in Lithuania, in February 2022. © Mindaugas Kulbis/AP

Text by: Violette Bonnebas

2 mins

Since the war in Ukraine, Germany has embarked on an unprecedented approach: establishing a "

 ", in particular by calling on these citizens.

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From our correspondent in Berlin,

In seven municipalities in Germany, 50 inhabitants were drawn each time to take part in workshops on security and defence.

Pensioners, students, executives, employees, that is to say a representative panel of society.

“

 These are the types of subjects on which these citizens have the floor and formulate concrete proposals.

All their ideas will feed a document that will be a reference: a "national security strategy" which Germany wants to adopt for the first time.

A fear of the new war in Germany

None of the participants is an expert in foreign policy and this is indeed the wish of the government: to integrate into its strategy not only the need to defend Germany as a state, but also the people who live there, taking into account of their aspirations and concerns.

In these workshops, there is a strong feeling of insecurity in Germany since the beginning of the war in Ukraine;

80% of Germans see Russia as a threat to their own country.

The electric shock was particularly violent because until then, in their majority, the Germans thought that peace in Europe would be eternal, that they were surrounded only by friends, according to a famous formula in Germany, and therefore, they thought having a powerful army was useless.

All of this has been swept away.

Through this "national security strategy", it is in fact a new compass that the Germans are looking for to orient themselves, to find their place, their role, in the new geopolitical era opened by the Russian invasion. in Ukraine.

Apart from citizen work, experts are also interviewed by the government.

And then the Minister of Foreign Affairs,

, travels through Germany, between two appointments abroad.

She speaks with business owners affected by the energy crisis, associations fighting against jihadism, environmental researchers.

" 

", she repeats regularly.

The publication of this future German strategy is scheduled for the end of 2022.

►Also read: Germany delivers the first Cheetah armored vehicles to Ukraine

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