The re-election of President George W. Bush increases the stakes for European foreign policy, which also means that the stakes for Germany increase. In his first term in office, Bush has put the world on an increasingly dangerous course. Military operations became the main instrument of American foreign policy, the classic instruments of diplomacy and economic aid lost their importance. Europe would have to balance America's militaristic approach as a counterweight, but Europe is divided and Germany has been too quiet to advance peaceful solutions to global instability.

Europe must act much more courageously to reduce instability in developing countries by promoting economic development. However, if this approach is to be successful, Germany will have to play a much larger role. For example, it would have to provide more development aid, be more intellectually committed and exercise greater political leadership in favor of economic development in Africa, the Middle East and Asia.

In my view, this challenge can be summed up in four numbers. The first two concern the United States. This year, the US will spend $ 450 billion on the military and only about $ 16 billion on development aid. The ratio of military spending to development aid is 30 to 1. Given this, it is obvious that the United States has focused all of its foreign policy on the military approach. It is therefore not surprising that the United States is waging war to achieve foreign policy goals. For example, one of the reasons for the war in Iraq was the basic principle of the American security doctrine, namely that only a massive military presence in the Middle East would guarantee US energy security in the long term. One goal of the war in Iraq was

The other two numbers concern Germany. This year Germany will again spend four percent of the gross national product (GNP) on the still enormous costs of reunification. At the same time, Germany will only spend 0.29 percent of its GNP on government development aid. This puts Germany in proportion among most European countries (although 0.29 percent of GNP is still far more than the 0.14 percent of GNP that goes to development aid in the United States). One can say that in the past decade Germany has concentrated its energies on the great domestic challenge of reunification and on the major European project to strengthen and expand the EU. Much less has been done for global economic development.

Germany's attention is drawn to internal problems such as reunification and domestic reforms, at best you can still see Europe. It is no wonder that Europe itself does too little to balance the US military approach to global problems. To put it simply and easily understandable: the world is shaken by instability everywhere. This is the result of the all-encompassing burdens of globalization. Many regions of the world are unstable because they are affected by poverty, economic stagnation, high unemployment and increasing environmental problems and offer little prospect of economic improvement. In extreme cases such as Afghanistan, Somalia and Sudan, the economic and ecological collapse is discharged into major bloody conflicts. The American approach to such problems is based on the military rather than development. But Europe is completely inadequate in its counterbalance, which would either have to convince the US of a more balanced foreign policy or design an alternative development strategy supported by European foreign aid.

The great absentee

Europe's weakness when it comes to an economically-oriented foreign policy and the advancement of peaceful solutions for impoverished and unstable countries reflects in some ways Germany's poor participation in such undertakings. Germany, Europe's largest country and largest economy, is essential for a uniform European foreign policy towards the developing world. But you don't hear much about Germany. If it contributes to the constructive formulation of a European development policy, it is hardly noticeable. This can be illustrated with recent personal experiences.

In the past five years, I have made two international efforts to help find development-oriented solutions to instability in developing countries. In the first case, I was Chairman of a World Health Organization Commission on Macroeconomics and Health from 2000 to 2001. Secondly, I am currently available to UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan as special advisor for the Millennium Development Goals (MDG) and as director of the UN Millennium Project. In both roles, I have worked extensively with European development agencies and with the Directorate General of the European Commission for Development. I was amazed both times

In September 2000, the whole world, including Germany, of course, adopted the Millennium Development Goals. Rich and poor countries committed to working together to reduce extreme poverty and disease in the world's poorest countries. Targets expressed in numbers were issued - income poverty should be halved by 2015 (compared to 1990), child mortality by two thirds, maternal mortality by three quarters, etc. Most European countries have these targets at the core of their international ones Development strategy made. The European Commission is increasingly organizing its efforts in line with these goals. It is true that achieving these goals is the crucial step to end the spiral of instability, violence and open conflict,

A year and a half after the Millennium Development Goals were agreed, a meeting was held in Monterrey, Mexico in the shadow of September 11 to reaffirm the goals. On this occasion, the richest countries in the world promised to significantly increase their development aid. They promised "concrete efforts to achieve the 0.7 percent target of GNP as a measure of development aid". In doing so, they picked up on an old promise made by donor countries 34 years ago. The UN General Assembly had already declared in 1970 that the 0.7 percent would be reached by 1975. This goal has been completely missed and most developed countries still fail to achieve it today.

Nevertheless, several European countries have worked very hard to promote the Millennium Development Goals since 2000, including the promise of 0.7 percent of the gross national product. Five European countries - Denmark, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway and Sweden - have long met the 0.7 percent target. However, it is important that six other European countries - Belgium, Finland, France, Great Britain, Ireland and Spain - have recently signed up to the promise and given a date for reaching the goal. Germany, on the other hand, attracted attention because it neither kept its commitment to the 0.7 percent target nor gave a date when - and if - it wanted to achieve this goal.

Als Direktor des UN-Millennium-Projekts habe ich eng mit einigen Geberagenturen zusammengearbeitet, was die Millennium-Entwicklungsziele betrifft. Einige europäische Geberländer sind bemerkenswert engagiert dabei, die Herausforderungen der Millennium-Entwicklungsziele zu durchdenken. Sie realisieren, dass die Erreichung dieser Ziele dabei helfen wird, die Welt auf den Pfad globalen Friedens und globaler Sicherheit zu bringen. So hat etwa Großbritannien durch die von Premierminister Tony Blair eingerichtete Afrika-Kommission die Führung dabei übernommen, die Armut in Afrika anzugehen. Frankreich fördert „innovative Methoden“ zur Finanzierung von Entwicklungshilfe. Schweden ist vorbildlich bei den Anstrengungen, beim außenpolitischen Umgang mit den Geringverdiener-Ländern „Kohärenz“ zu erreichen, indem es Entwicklungshilfe, Handel und Diplomatie aufeinander abstimmt. Norwegen hat die UN-Kommission zur Nachhaltigen Entwicklung kraftvoll geführt, indem es sich für globale Entwicklungsziele eingesetzt hat. Und das ist nur eine unvollständige Liste.

Germany, however, unfortunately hardly sits at this table. Of course, there are many German development workers who are committed to international development aid, but there is little national commitment to the Millennium Development Goals and no significant German strategy to support them. German politicians' attention to this topic is limited, German development aid is modest, and Germany's voice on these issues cannot be heard very clearly worldwide. The real problem here is not just the lack of a German leadership role, but the lack of a European leadership role. How can Europe help convince the United States to adopt a peaceful and development-oriented approach to tackling global instability?

Decision 2005

2005 will be a crucial year for at least three reasons. First, President Bush has just been re-elected. Will his government see this reelection as a mandate to expand warfare, perhaps with Iran or Syria? Will the violence in Iraq spread to other Islamic countries in the Middle East and Africa? Will humanitarian crises like Darfur get even more out of control? The best prospect for a peaceful resolution of these conflicts will depend on European leadership, both in pursuit of European initiatives and in trying to persuade the US to rebalance its foreign policy, which is much more based on development policies and diplomatic approaches.

Zweitens wird im Jahr 2005 die Fünf-Jahres-Revision der Millennium-Entwicklungsziele anstehen, ebenso wie der Start in die letzte Dekade, um sie zu erreichen, denn das Zieldatum ist das Jahr 2015. Das ganze Jahr wird der Diplomatie über die Millenniumsziele gewidmet sein. Die Europäische Union will im Frühjahr eine neue entwicklungspolitische Strategie annehmen. Die britische Afrika-Kommission will im März ihren Abschlussbericht vorlegen. Auch der G-8-Gipfel im Juli im Gastgeberland Großbritannien wird sich zentral mit Entwicklungshilfe beschäftigen, weil der britische Finanzminister Gordon Brown dort seine Vorschläge für neue internationale Finanzierungsmöglichkeiten vorstellen will, die die Entwicklungshilfe von 2005 bis 2015 verdoppeln soll. Und im September werden sich die führenden Politiker der Welt zu einem UN-Gipfel versammeln, wo auch das Versprechen globaler Anstrengungen zur Erreichung der Millenniumsziele erneuert werden soll.

Drittens wird 2005 das Jahr einer intensiven Debatte über die Restrukturierung der Institutionen und des Sicherheitsmandats der Vereinten Nationen sein, was die mögliche Vergrößerung des UN-Sicherheitsrats einschließt. Deutschland hat seinen Wunsch nach einem ständigen Sitz in diesem Gremium deutlich gemacht. Um das zu erreichen, wird Deutschland die Unterstützung einer Zweidrittelmehrheit der UN-Mitgliedsländer brauchen, einschließlich einer großen Zahl von Geringverdiener-Ländern, für die wirtschaftliche Entwicklung die erste nationale Priorität ist. Es ist schwer zu sehen, wie Deutschlands Mitgliedschaft im UN-Sicherheitsrat große Begeisterung oder viele Stimmen generieren sollte, wenn Deutschland weiterhin der internationalen Entwicklungspolitik so wenig Priorität einräumt.

The UN Millennium Project will submit a report to UN Secretary-General Annan in January 2005 showing how the Millennium Development Goals can be achieved. We will note a number of fundamentally relevant things for Germany and Europe. First, the Millennium Development Goals for the poor and unstable countries can actually be achieved. An essential success factor is the massive increase in investments in critical areas such as roads, energy supply, clinics, schools, water and sanitary facilities. The key to successful development aid is investing in the poor to increase their skills and productivity in the labor market and to stimulate the business environment through improved infrastructure.

Second, this increase in investment in poor countries will have to be financed in part by a significant increase in development aid from rich countries. The donor side as a whole will have to double its share of development aid in the gross national product in the period 2005–2015, from an average of 0.25 percent to 0.50 percent today. By 2015, it should have reached the 0.7 percent target.

Third, to achieve such a result, Europe must take the lead, for example by adopting a proposal for international funding from Gordon Brown. This in turn will make Germany's active and enthusiastic participation necessary.

Germany in duty

I very much hope that in 2005 Germany will take the time to focus not only on its pressing internal economic problems, but also on international diplomacy and development. Without Germany's strong voice for peace through development, the world could drift irretrievably towards extensive wars and conflicts.

With Germany’s voice, on the other hand, we could not only achieve the bold goals for relief that we set ourselves at the Millennium Assembly in September 2000, but we would also put the world on a much safer course. Germany has expressed its desire and will to play a leading role in this. His plea for a peaceful solution to the Iraq crisis in the days before the war broke out has shown how realistic and valuable Germany's perspective can be. But Germany will not get a vote or (I believe) votes for its permanent seat in the UN Security Council if it is not ready to mobilize its own financial resources for this challenge and to do so in the context of a strong and common European foreign policy.

https://internationalepolitik.de/de/deutschland-tut-zu-wenig