At the outset of this year’s Munich Security Conference, Wolfgang Ischinger, the conference’s chairman, urged European leaders to adopt a stronger sense of self‑confidence. “Europe must speak with one voice, consolidate its arms efforts and, hopefully, ultimately do away with the unanimity principle in the European Union so that it can act more decisively” he told T‑Online on Thursday. He added that Europeans were “no longer willing to remain on the reserve bank forever” and that the agenda was clear. “I hope the actors present can move beyond the many exhortations we’ve heard and turn them into concrete decisions. Munich would be a fitting venue for that”.
Ischinger said greater European unity is especially urgent in dealing with Russia. “We are not being taken seriously – and that is a bitter realization” he said. “For example, French President Emmanuel Macron is sending his foreign‑policy adviser to Moscow. The Russians are mocking us. The Russian side apparently refuses to talk to us, which is why Chancellor Friedrich Merz is correct in saying that there is currently no substantial benefit to us there. That is, of course, a disconcerting finding”.
While calling for increased security‑policy autonomy for the EU, Ischinger rejected the idea of a German nuclear weapon. “Equipping Germany with its own atom bomb would violate our international legal commitments – the Non‑Proliferation Treaty and the Two‑Plus‑Four agreement – and could trigger turbulence in Europe, shattering the principle of nuclear non‑proliferation” he warned. “Instead of acting in a united front against Russia, our neighbors might try to build counter‑balances against Germany. Unless all other options have been exhausted, I view this as a grave mistake”.
