Merza Doctrine Overview: Germany as a global player

On 8 September, Chancellor Friedrich Merz (CDU) opened an yearly conference of ambassadors in Berlin, pointing out as a precedence the safety and competitiveness of the West Germany in a systemic conflict between liberal democracies and the axis of autocracy. He announced the construction of a fresh European safety architecture based on NATO, with a strengthened European pillar and a key function for Germany, justified by the size of the economy and geostrategic position on the Old Continent. West Germany's abroad policy is to be pragmatic and to be business-oriented. France remains an crucial partner in the EU, but cooperation with the UK is besides crucial in Europe. The US is inactive the most crucial non-European partner, but cooperation with them is to be adapted to the current Washington course. Merz confirmed his support for Ukraine on the road to a "fair peace" and warned against Putin's imperial plan and China's expanding pressure; cooperation with the PRC is possible in diversifying supply chains and natural materials. The RFN is expected to strengthen relations with non-European partners and operate in multilateral forums, including the UN, where it seeks the seat of a non-permanent associate on the safety Council for the years 2027–2028.

The Declaration of Change in abroad and safety Policy made by the Chancellor before the diplomatic corps should be regarded as a strong symbolic message sent both abroad and to his own country. Recently, in front of specified a group and with a communicative about the request for greater assertiveness and ambition in German politics, Chancellor Gerhard Schröder spoke in 2000. Merza's message of “taking responsibility” by Germany means an ambitious plan. Berlin does not yet have adequate military capabilities or adequate political legitimacy to play the first violin in European security.

Comment

• Chancellor Merza's speech marks a change in German reasoning about abroad and safety policy – towards an ambitious, self-oriented global player strategy. Merz separates himself from Germany's current moral language of universalism as a ‘civil power’, calling it a ‘moral pride’ resulting from economical success, and calls for hard realism. In addition to declarative multilateralism, the language of national interest, strategical partnerships and assertive shaping of global order according to standards and rules is emerging. besides fresh in this doctrine is the strong emphasis on economical sovereignty as a political instrument. Germany is not only to diversify sources of natural materials and supply chains, but besides to actively make a fresh planet trade system, independent of dysfunctional institutions specified as the WTO. In combination with global ambitions and the redefining of partnerships outside the West – from Mercosur to Central Asia and Africa – the image of Germany emerges as a state that not only participates in the global system, but besides claims to its conversion in the spirit of its own interests and values.
• Merz declares his willingness to cooperate with the US, but his message is clearly emancipative: Europe is to act, taking care of its own interests. It calls for European policy to be adapted to the fresh function of the US in the world, pointing to the decreasing obviousness of the transatlantic partnership. This emancipative rhetoric reveals the gap between Berlin's increasing ambitions and the real possibilities. The thought of creating a "new, sustainable safety architecture" and treating China as a systemic rival and a parallel policy towards them based on the interests of German industrial companies remains internally contradictory and strategically unreliable. Merz's speech besides points to another tensions: Berlin avoids a precise indication of its willingness to share power with European partners. It is crucial that the proposal to improvement the EU and improve its functioning are not falling.
• Poland remains outside the main staff of the fresh German strategy. Merza's speech is an ambiguous signal. On the 1 hand, clear anti-putinian rhetoric and declarations about the request to strengthen the European pillar of NATO could indicate greater convergence of German and Polish interests. On the another hand, the complete omission of Merz Poland as a strategical partner is striking. In the speech, he repeatedly stresses the peculiar function of France (as "chambers of the heart of Europe") and the UK as key allies. It besides points to the precedence of building relations with the Global South countries – from Brazil to Central Asia. Poland does not appear as a partner in the construction of the fresh global order, nor as a mention point in reasoning about the safety of the east flank of NATO. This is all the more crucial due to the fact that in the election run Merz suggested a willingness to reconstruct assurance in relations with Warsaw and to appreciate Poland's function in the region. As a result, in Merz's speech there is no Warsaw as an equal partner.