Berlin, Strasbourg The location and timing alone make this Chancellor’s speech remarkable. On Europe Day, Olaf Scholz came to the European Parliament in Strasbourg – and used his appearance to take a look beyond Europe. The SPD politician warns the EU to leave behind the “Eurocentric view of the past decades” and to strive for a partnership with the countries of Africa, Asia and Latin America “that not only maintains an eye level, but creates it”.
Scholz thus outlines his foreign policy vision for the European Union. He sees Europe as a hinge between the liberal democracies of the West and increasingly self-confident emerging countries. He demands that the EU should do more to attract emerging nations, not just lecturing on values, but offering concrete economic benefits.
In his speech, Scholz advocates a far-reaching European free trade agenda, for agreements with the Mercosur states of South America, “with Mexico, with India, Indonesia, Australia, Kenya and in the future with many other countries”. At this moment, applause breaks through the Strasbourg plenum for the first time. This is also remarkable, because free trade has long been a hot topic in Europe that politicians prefer to avoid.
The EU must turn to the world: that is the Chancellor’s message. “If we continue to negotiate new free trade agreements for years without result, then others will dictate the rules in future – with lower environmental and social standards.”
Scholz is convinced that a multipolar world order is developing and that Europe’s global influence is tending to decline. Right at the beginning of his speech he quoted the French writer Paul Valéry: “Will Europe become what it really is: a small promontory, a cape of the Asian mainland?”
The chancellor wants to prevent that, but the global power shift is already underway. And it has serious consequences, as the Ukraine war shows. Western argumentation patterns and teachings about the “rules-based world order” no longer catch.
Scholz wants to rethink the EU’s relationship with the Global South
Even democratic countries like Brazil, India and South Africa are not breaking off relations with Russia, neither political nor economic. Some of these countries are even deliberately circumventing EU sanctions.
>> Read here: For which countries Russia is still a partner or ally
In a recent study, the German Marshall Fund writes about global swing states and calls for a “rethinking of the commitment of the USA and Europe to important actors in Latin America, Africa, the Middle East and the Indo-Pacific region”.
This is exactly what Scholz has in mind: “The countries of the Global South are new partners whose concerns and legitimate interests we take seriously,” he says.
Scholz on Putin: The EU is not intimidated by “power posturing”.
Scholz does not believe that the world will be dominated by the USA and China in the future, but that many nations will play an important role in world politics. And it is precisely these nations that Scholz wants to bind to the West.
In his term of office so far, Scholz has hardly met any other head of government as often as India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Scholz only visited India again in February.
In the UN General Assembly, India did not condemn Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine, but abstained. As the most populous country in the world, India will have a significant influence on world politics.
Scholz also maintains extensive contacts with other countries in the Indo-Pacific. In his view, Asia beyond China has been neglected for far too long. The Chancellor is also very interested in Indonesia. When the G20 summit took place in Bali last year, he read a book about the country’s Dutch colonial history.
Scholz does not want to leave the field to China in emerging markets
In Latin America, the focus is on Brazil, after leftist Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva replaced right-wing populist Jair Bolsanaro as president. However, Scholz had to realize during his visit to Brazil at the beginning of the year how difficult it would be to make the country a partner.
>> Read here: Why South America is so important to the Chancellor
Lula Scholz came up on almost all issues, such as the request for military aid for Ukraine or Scholz’s climate club. In the Chancellery, they compare the strategy with a “marathon run”.
The path is “long and rocky, but constant water wears away the stone,” according to government circles. Even if results are not immediately visible, this strategy is still better than leaving the field to China.
The Chancellor also had to take a beating during the visit to Brazil.
(Photo: AP)
That is another reason, Scholz emphasizes in Strasbourg, that Europe must pursue a strategic neighborhood policy and implement the enlargement promises made to the states of the Western Balkans, Ukraine and Moldova. The Chancellor also sees a geopolitical mandate in this: A “prosperous, democratic, European Ukraine” is a rejection of an “imperial, revisionist policy that violates international law”.
In general, geopolitics plays a central role in Scholz’s speech. The Chancellor is in favor of more European investment – in defence, “in technological sovereignty, in reliable supply chains, in our independence when it comes to critical raw materials”.
No longer open to blackmail: After the fatal error of the energy partnership with Russia, this is a key challenge for European foreign policy. However, the EU – and especially Germany – is still a long way from this goal.
For climate-neutral technologies, whether batteries or solar cells, Europe is dependent on Chinese suppliers, and the dependence is even greater than on Russian gas.
Scholz received a lot of applause for his speech in the EU Parliament – but also received criticism
That should change. In Strasbourg, Scholz supports the concept of “de-risking” proposed by Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, since “rivalry and competition on the part of China have undoubtedly increased,” says the Chancellor. The trade agenda could also serve this purpose. A diversification of Europe’s trade relations reduces dependencies.
>> Read here: Partner or opponent? How the EU and the USA could converge on free trade
However, Scholz is aware that the EU in its current constitution is not able to survive in a world that is increasingly characterized by the rivalry of great powers. His response to the Union’s weaknesses in foreign policy is “more Council decisions by qualified majority”, i.e. moving away from the principle of unanimity among the EU states.
Scholz received standing applause for his speech, but there was also clear criticism in the subsequent debate. The group leader of the European People’s Party, Manfred Weber, warns that Europe does not need keynote speeches, but concrete reforms. The Greens politician Terry Reintke takes Scholz to court the hardest, which is a remarkable conclusion to this remarkable appointment with the chancellor.
The Green politician sharply criticized Olaf Scholz.
(Photo: dpa)
The coalition discipline of traffic lights counts for little in the EU Parliament. Reintke makes it clear what the Greens in Berlin only say behind closed doors. She accuses Scholz of weakness in leadership. “Unfortunately, the image of the chancellor who delivers has faded in recent months,” she says. Then she turns directly to Scholz: “You let it run instead of positioning yourself clearly.”
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