“German foreign policy must never be subject to the primacy of the economy”

Dusseldorf Rarely has an event shaken Western beliefs like the Russian threat to wage open war against Ukraine. The conflict with Russia is presenting German foreign policy in particular with completely new challenges: How much economic partnership is possible in this environment without endangering the unity of the West? Which deterrent concept is the most efficient? Is there even such a thing as “Realpolitik” without a value-oriented basis?

Heinrich August Winkler provides orientation in the Handelsblatt interview. Germany’s best-known historian warns of the “illusion of a German mediator role between East and West”. A German special path should be avoided at all costs.

“Berlin must never again give the impression that there could be German-Russian security agreements at the expense of third countries,” says Winkler. “We Germans have had catastrophic experiences with a power-politically abbreviated understanding of “Realpolitik”.