53rd Munich Security Conference
The 53rd Munich Security Conference took place from 17 to 19 February 2017 at the Bayerischer Hof hotel in Munich. With a total of 680 participants, including 30 heads of state and government, nearly 60 representatives of international organizations and 65 top business leaders, it was the largest conference to date. Prominent guests and speakers were UN Secretary General António Guterres, US Vice President Mike Pence, US Secretary of Defense James Mattis, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, Federica Mogherini, Donald Tusk and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi. 700 journalists were also accredited for the event. In addition to the main events of the security conference, there were 1,350 bilateral meetings among MSC participants and delegations.
Opening
The German Defence Minister, Ursula von der Leyen, and the new US Defense Secretary James Mattis, opened the conference together. In her speech, the German minister commented on the controversy between Berlin and Washington regarding the appropriate level of defence spending, stating: "We Germans have understood that after a period where we reaped the benefits of a peace dividend, we must now persistently invest in a security contingency reserve." At the same time, von der Leyen stressed the importance of close transatlantic cooperation and said that Germany would "bear a larger, a fairer part of the burdens for the common Atlantic security". The minister said "NATO is not self-evident - neither for America nor for the Europeans". At the same time, she pointed out that sharing the burden among alliance partners was not a financial question at first but one where both partners should practice mutual support for each other. "This excludes all unilateral action – both unilaterally rushing ahead as well as unilaterally ducking responsibility", continued von der Leyen. This reaffirmed her call for a common position and approach by NATO against Russia and the Islamic state. At the same time, the principle that Islamic terror should be fought against and not Islam itself should be applied. Von der Leyen stressed that the world needs a "globally committed, responsible America".Her US counterpart, James Mattis, in his brief address, combined his country's clear commitment to NATO's collective defence with a strong demand for Europeans to boost their collective defence spending. Secretary Mattis advocated a binding plan to meet the payment commitments made in 2014 in Wales and 2016 in Warsaw. Mattis stressed that the Alliance should remain "credible, capable and relevant" so that Europeans and Americans could jointly resist the enemies of democracy, and both sides of the Atlantic share the legacy of friendship, freedom, and a trusting alliance. "American security is permanently tied to European security," and "Security is at its highest when a team makes sure of it," said Mattis.
The future of the EU
During a panel discussion on the future of the European Union entitled "Together or Separated", there was a clear disagreement between Polish Foreign Minister Witold Waszczykowski and Vice-President of the European Commission Frans Timmermans, described by observers as a "clash of civilizations on a small-scale". The dispute was triggered by Timmermans accusing the Polish government of spreading "alternative facts". "The EU is built on rights and values," Timmermans said, stressing that judges should not be subject to directives by governments. The common principles are binding on all Member States. The Polish Foreign Minister dismissed the allegations and accused the European Commission of misinterpreting Polish law.The German finance minister, Wolfgang Schäuble, urged EU members to be united. At the same time, he reaffirmed the need for a determined protection of external borders by Eastern European EU countries in order to avoid border controls within the EU. Schäuble and MEP Elmar Brok both stressed the need for the EU to take its own internal and external security into its own hands in order to prevent a further loss of overall stature.
Development Assistance
The Irish singer Bono, a co-founder of ONE, praised the German development policy in Africa. Germany has an understanding of the economic opportunities and of the specific risks present on the continent, Bono explained. He called for a common security and development strategy to provide basic supplies, education and infrastructure for people in Africa. The singer warned of three extremes, which particularly threatened security: "Extreme ideology, extreme poverty and extreme climate." At the same time, Bono advocated making investments contingent on good governance standards.The Future of the West and NATO
In his introduction to a panel discussion on the future of the West, US Senator John McCain appealed to the West: "We must not abandon ourselves and each other, otherwise it would be decadence, and that leads to the failure of world orders," adding also that the 2017 security conference was more important than ever before. McCain warned Western societies not to be paralyzed but to rely on the conviction of their common values and openness. "We may have become self-complacent, we have made mistakes", McCain said, but also stood behind his conviction that "as long as courageous people believe in the West, the West will persist". The Senator expressed his appreciation for Germany and Chancellor Angela Merkel for the "essential role" which they play in defending the ideas of the West.According to McCain, not every American may understand the meaning of his praise, but he thanked Germany and Merkel "in the name of all those who do grasp that".
During the subsequent discussion, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko said that supporting Ukraine is the easiest way to strengthen the West. According to Poroshenko, Russia not only wants to redraw Ukraine "in Russian colours" but rather all of Europe. He also warned of a premature détente policy with Moscow, as an end to the sanctions regime would be interpreted as a sign of weakness and further strengthen Russian aggression. Poroshenko appealed to the conference participants: "Do not decide without Ukraine about Ukraine". He told the press that in Ukraine, " Europe was being defended against Russian aggression" and "that it could affect other countries after Ukraine". All involved parties reiterated their commitment to the Minsk Accord. Representatives of the United States, above all Vice President Mike Pence, criticized Russia's conduct during the conflict. At the same time, it became known during the security conference that Moscow would, effective immediately, recognize passports issued by the so-called separatist Donetsk People's Republic and Luhansk People's Republic, a move that equals diplomatic recognition of these two entities by Russia.
In this context, British Foreign Minister Boris Johnson reaffirmed the importance of NATO. He interpreted the Brexit vote as a decision by the United Kingdom in favour of free trade and globalization. He described Donald Trump's election as an opportunity for positive change and asked to give the new US president an opportunity to govern before rushing to judgement.
During an evening event, NATO defence ministers from the UK, France, Netherlands, Canada and Turkey discussed the situation of the Western Alliance in the context of the financial dimension of providing for their collective security.
British Defence Secretary Michael Fallon pointed to the gap between public commitments to defence spending and actual military expenditure by NATO members. 19 of the 28 Alliance countries contribute less than 1.5% of their GNP, and five members spend even less than 1%. Fallon therefore welcomed Washington's push for binding commitments to document the progress of the individual Alliance partners to reach the 2% target and provide for better burden-sharing in defence matters.
Fallon referred to Russia under President Vladimir Putin as a reason why NATO should be strengthened. It was Russia, whose cyberattacks and propaganda war was making the world less secure, Fallon continued. "It is Putin, not Trump, who is aggressive. It is Putin and not Trump, who sets up new medium-range missile." French Defence Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian outlined current changes in the role of NATO. Traditional capabilities such as territorial defence of the Alliance or the concept of "Forward Strategy" were once again increasing in importance. At the same time, Le Drian emphasized that nuclear deterrence was an integral part of ensuring the security of the Alliance. The Dutch defence minister Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert pointed out that Europeans had been able to take a peace dividend over a long period of time, even when the security situation deteriorated. Turkish Defence Minister Fikri Işık stressed that not only the eastern but also the southern flank of NATO was increasingly under pressure and called for NATO to be strengthened in the southeast.
China's foreign policy
During the conference, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi explained Beijing's position on current issues of foreign and security policy. Wang Yi discussed Chinese policies related to Russia and the US. Observers interpreted this as an expression of a shift in international power structures, as Europe was only mentioned in the margins. Wang Yi described his country as a pioneer of international cooperation. In the context of North Korea, the Foreign Minister expressed his support for the resumption of the six-party talks in order to resolve the conflict with North Korea and to break the "negative spiral in the nuclear issue". At the same time, Wang Yi announced an import stop for coal from North Korea.Speech by the German Chancellor
On the second day of the conference, Chancellor Angela Merkel described the great changes in foreign policy in her speech and called for a new global order pattern, which would have to be developed 25 years after the end of the East-West confrontation. The "world has radically changed, we have no fixed order," Merkel described the situation. At the same time, she promoted a liberal, worldwide multilateralism based on international structures worth fighting for. The Chancellor included amongst others NATO, which has grown in importance due to Russian annexation of the Crimea and the "conflicts in the east of Ukraine, during which Russia supported the separatists". Russia had violated the crucial principle of the territorial integrity of states which peace and security depended upon, Merkel continued. The Chancellor confirmed that the threats and challenges for the security of the West repeatedly highlighted by the American side were real. Therefore, "we need the military force of the United States of America.""We will do more for defence policy," Merkel said, supporting the target of spending two percent of GDP on defence in the future following NATO's 2014 agreement to that effect. "We will make every effort, we feel committed to this goal," she said. "Germany knows its responsibility here." In this context, Merkel conceded however, that it would hardly be possible to increase German defence expenditure by more than 8 percent annually, which would be necessary to achieve that common NATO goal.
At the same time, the Chancellor described a concept of security which, in addition to defence, also included development aid and crisis prevention, whose costs would have to be taken into account as well. Merkel stressed the need to fight against the root causes of the refugee crisis. "We Germans, as we have seen in the context of the refugees, always have an interest in ensuring that people elsewhere have a proper and good existence."
On the current state of the EU, the Chancellor expressed herself thoughtfully. According to Merkel, the EU is in a "difficult phase." As a cause, she argued that after the introduction of the euro, only later were measures to secure it introduced. Similarly, the principle of freedom of movement of persons had been implemented before measures were taken on the external borders to limit migration.