09
OCT
2023
The German-French dispute over important joint armament projects has been making headlines for years. In 2017, Berlin and Paris had agreed on six projects that were to be implemented by companies on both sides, partly with the involvement of corporations from third countries: development and construction of a common air combat system (Future Combat Air System, FCAS) around a sixth-generation fighter jet, a new ground combat system (Main Ground Combat System, MGCS) around a new battle tank and a new sea reconnaissance aircraft; a new drone ("Euro drone") and a new artillery system were also to be developed and the Tiger combat helicopter was to be modernized. 1] The development of the maritime reconnaissance system has definitely been obsolete since Berlin announced in June 2021 that it would procure US models of the type P-8A Poseidon; they are manufactured by Boeing and cost around 1.1 billion euros.[ 2] In May of this year, the Ministry of Defense also announced that Berlin would not participate in the modernization of the combat helicopter, but rather outshoot the tiger.[ 3] According to a report last week, the artillery system has been "for years ... nothing to be heard".[ 4]
The other three armament projects are officially still ongoing, but are considered to have been significantly affected. The MGCS was recently on the off of the run [5]; it could only be saved at least provisionally after a personal intervention by the defense ministers of both countries, Boris Pistorius and Sébastien Lecornu [6]. Experts have massive doubts that the project will be completed. Skepticism has long prevailed at FCAS, although the development of the air combat system could recently be driven one round further. 7] According to reports, Airbus and the federal government are still in contact with London in order to keep an alternative open: Great Britain is also building a sixth-generation fighter jet with the "Tempest" and is thus progressing faster.[ 8] About the Euro drone, on the other hand, it is said that it seems "already today ... like it has fallen out of time": The large, "comparatively slow-flying drone" is "for a modern air defense ... an easy target." 9] A France expert from the German Society for Foreign Policy (DGAP) is quoted as stating that "Berlin and Paris dragged themselves away enthusiasticly, but still shy away from ending the cooperation".
Serious differences between Berlin and Paris have now developed in numerous fields - in China policy, in terms of free trade agreements with Mercosur or in terms of EU-policy rules. 10] Meanwhile, there is an escalating dispute over the EU electricity market reform. Paris wants to use it to greatly reduce the prices of its nuclear power via a complex mechanism and thus enable an electricity price for French industry, with which, as observers judge, "no one in the EU can seriously keep up." 11] Berlin sees the German industry, which already suffers from particularly high energy prices, falling into a structural disadvantage and blocks itself against it. The dispute is escalating; there is already talk of "red lines" in the French government.
New Franco-German differences are evident not least in foreign policy - in terms of the South Caucasus. France's Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna visited Armenia's capital Yerevan last Tuesday and promised the country full support. She explained that she was committed to ensuring that an EU aid package for Armenia that is already in preparation is "meaning, robust and appropriate to the extent of the crisis." 12] She also confirmed that France would supply weapons to Armenia.[ 13] So far, Yerevan has been buying its armaments mainly in Russia. Berlin is holding back more strongly. For example, Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock expressly refused to accompany Colonna on her trip to Yerevan. The background is that the federal government wants to obtain larger quantities of natural gas from Azerbaijan in order to replace the missing Russian natural gas (german-foreign-policy.com reported [14]). This would probably be in question if Berlin were to stand too clearly against Baku. The President of the French National Assembly, Yaël Braun-Pivet, for her part, declared last week with a view to the events in Nagorno-Karabakh: "We cannot just let this happen." 15] She expressly called for sanctions against Azerbaijan's President Ilham Aliyev and his family. Berlin, on the other hand, is in the way.
Meanwhile, considerable resentment is caused in France by the fact that the Federal Government is drastically cutting the funds for several Goethe-Instituts in France - without discussing it with the affected cities and institutions. For example, the funds that the Goethe-Instituts in Lyon and Toulouse will have available in the future have been massively reduced; in Toulouse, cultural work will only have 5,000 euros available in the future. The German-French Airbus Group is based in the city. The Goethe-Instituts in Bordeaux, Lille and Strasbourg are even to be completely closed at the end of the year. In Lille, the regional newspaper La Voix du Nord commented that it was "a very bad signal from Germany." 16] Franck Leroy, President of the Regional Council of the Greater Grand Est region, to which Strasbourg also belongs, is quoted as saying: "I deeply regret the closure and call for mobilization on both sides of the Rhine." In January, Germany and France had the 60th anniversary with a ceremony in the Sorbonne. Anniversary of the signing of the Élysée Treaty. 17] Chancellor Olaf Scholz had explained at that time about the so-called German-French friendship: "This friendship, it means a lot to us Germans."[ 18]
Federal Minister of Economics Robert Habeck recently found open words on the current state of Franco-German relations. Habeck spoke at the Berlin Ambassadors' Conference at the beginning of September with regard to the Aachen Treaty of 22. January 2019, which states, among other things, that the German-French security interests are "inseparably linked": "The German-French friendship is in fact a polarity that must be interpreted in such a way that we do not actually agree on anything." 19]
[1] Marco Seliger: Merkel and Macron wanted to advance six billion armament projects. What remains is a single real joint project. nzz.ch 05.10.2023.
[2] Germany orders five maritime reconnaissance P-8A Poseidon. bundeswehr.de 06/30/2021.
[3] Thomas Wiegold: Now official: (Long) end for the combat helicopter Tiger, successor decision this year. augengeradeaus.net 13.05.2023.
[4] Marco Seliger: Merkel and Macron wanted to advance six billion-dollar armament projects. What remains is a single real joint project. nzz.ch 05.10.2023.
[5] S. on this tank for Europe (II).
[6] S. on German-French conflicts.
[7] Joint tank project takes important hurdle. tagesschau.de 21.09.2023.
[8] S. on this dispute over the air combat system.
[9] Marco Seliger: Merkel and Macron wanted to advance six billion-dollar armament projects. What remains is a single real joint project. nzz.ch 05.10.2023.
[10] Niklas Záboji: Quite disune partners. Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung 07.10.2023.
[11] Hendrik Kafsack, Niklas Záboji: Industrial power in XXL format. Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung 15.09.2023.
[12] Michaela Wiegel: Lonely savior in Yerevan. Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung 04.10.2023.
[13] La France a « donné son accord » à l'Arménie en vue de livraison de matériel militaire. lemonde.fr 03.10.2023.
[14] S. "A trustworthy partner".
[15] Michaela Wiegel: Lonely savior in Yerevan. Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung 04.10.2023.
[16], [17] Michaela Wiegel: How much is the friendship still worth? Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung 05.10.2023.
[18] Speech by Chancellor Olaf Scholz at the joint meeting of the Assemblée Nationale and the German Bundestag on the occasion of the conclusion of the Elysée Treaty on the 22nd. January 2023 in Paris.
[19] Michaela Wiegel: Deter together. Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung 12.09.2023.