Sigmar Gabriel: Now Is the Time to Strengthen Europe

Sigmar Gabriel: “We don’t need ‘more Europe,’ but rather a different Europe.” Source: DPA

 

The German Economics Minister and leader of the Social Democratic Party tells Handelsblatt Europe must forge its own trade relations with Asia, and face down Donald Trump’s protectionist threats.

On an intercity train zooming through the lowlands of the German state of Lower Saxony, German Economics Minister Sigmar Gabriel talked to Handelsblatt about Germany’s role in Europe and the world, the need for investment in infrastructure and the challenges posed by the shift away from nuclear power and toward green energy, known as the Energiewende. Click here for a summary of his comments.

Handelsblatt: Mr. Gabriel, is Germany ready for Donald Trump’s “America First” policy?

Mr. Gabriel: Germany should act with self-confidence and not be fearful or servile. We are a highly successful, technologically-advanced export nation with many hard-working people and smart companies.

Germany is not only stable at this time, but also serves as an anchor of stability for many other countries in Europe. Mr. Trump’s first speech as U.S. president shows that he is dead serious. We will have to put on some warm clothes for the chill ahead. But there is no reason for faintheartedness.

German Streets Descend into Lawlessness

German police are shown deployed to break up a mass brawl between migrants (Image source: SAT1 video screenshot)

 

“We are losing control of the streets.”

• During the first six months of 2016, migrants committed 142,500 crimes, according to the Federal Criminal Police Office. This is equivalent to 780 crimes committed by migrants every day, an increase of nearly 40% over 2015. The data includes only those crimes in which a suspect has been caught.
• Thousands of migrants who entered the country as “asylum seekers” or “refugees” have gone missing. They are, presumably, economic migrants who entered Germany on false pretenses. Many are thought to be engaging in robbery and criminal violence.
• Local police in many parts of the country admit that they are stretched to the limit and are unable to maintain law and order.
• “Drug trafficking takes place right before our eyes. If we intervene, we are threatened, spat on, insulted. Sometimes someone whips out a knife. They are always the same people. They are ruthless, fearless and have no problems with robbing even the elderly.” — Private security guard.
• According to Freddi Lohse of the German Police Union in Hamburg, many migrant offenders view the leniency of the German justice system as a green light to continue delinquent behavior. “They are used to tougher consequences in their home countries,” he said. “They have no respect for us.”
• “It cannot be that offenders continue to fill the police files, hurt us physically, insult us, whatever, and there are no consequences. Many cases are closed or offenders are released on probation or whatever. Yes, what is happening in the courts today is a joke.” — Tania Kambouri, German police officer.

Unique in the World

BERLIN/NIENBURG (WESER) (Own report) – The German Bundeswehr is holding another exercise oriented on “Civil-Military Cooperation” (CIMIC) in the context of military interventions. The “Joint Cooperation” exercise will take place in Nienburg County (Lower Saxony) at the end of the month primarily with the participation of soldiers from NATO member countries, and with troops from countries, officially claiming neutrality, such as Austria and Sweden. According to the scenario of the exercise, which has been drawn up in all details, so-called CIMIC forces will operate in a fictitious country at the Horn of Africa that has become the scene of a bloody civil war provoked by a neighboring nation. The unit specialized in “civil-military cooperation” must “assess” the war zone population’s situation, to provide the military command the “necessary information” for its “operational planning.” The scenario shows a number of parallels to NATO’s current large-scale “Trident Juncture” exercise, which also focuses on combating an “aggressor nation,” covertly supporting one party to the civil war in the neighboring country. Reference to the situation in Ukraine is explicitly desired.

A New Era in the Middle East (II)

TEHERAN/HANOVER/MUNICH (Own report) – Now that the sanctions are coming to a close, German enterprises are initiating major investments in Iran and multibillion-dollar gas deals with Teheran. Over the past few weeks, several business delegations have already visited Iran. The state of Bavaria will soon open a business representation in the Iranian capital. On the one hand, German business circles have their eye on the Middle East market, because Iran “is the ventricle of an economic zone comprising a cross-border population of 400 million people.” With car sales in Iran, Volkswagen would like to compensate for the slump it is suffering on other major markets, particularly China and Brazil. On the other hand, Berlin and Brussels are trying to acquire access to Iranian natural gas. The EU Commission estimates that by 2030, Iran should be annually selling 25 to 35 billion cubic meters – probably liquid – gas to the EU. BASF natural gas subsidiary Wintershall has also shown interest. During his recent visit in Teheran, Lower Saxony’s Minister of the Economy proposed the construction of a LNG terminal in Wilhelmshaven as a German-Iranian joint venture. This is all happening at a time, when the conflict over Syria – with Iran and Russia on the one side and the West on the other – is escalating.

Mass Immigration and the Undoing of Europe

• In Germany, where traffickers are now dropping off illegal immigrants on Autobahns, authorities have reacted — not by trying to intercept or discourage traffickers, but by putting up new road signs alerting drivers of potential pedestrians on the highway.
• Last month alone, more migrants landed on the shores of Greece than in the whole of 2014.
• If the mainstream media keep reminding everyone how the rioting immigrant youths in France or Britain are driven by economic inequality now, imagine the scale of unrest once European welfare states cannot finance “half the planet” anymore and are forced to cut welfare benefits.
• No one, however, especially the media, blames migrants for their own actions.
• This is the real tragedy of the unfolding refugee crisis in Europe: apart from those fleeing combat zones, most migrants swarming European borders and coastlines do not appear to be in any real or dire need.

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Even before this year’s mass immigration began, Germany was struggling to deal with roughly a quarter of a million asylum applicants — without even accounting for the illegal immigrants already in the country. The recent wave of migration would push those figures to record heights.

The trend in Germany merely reflects the overall scale of the European immigrant crisis. In July 2015, an estimated 50,000 refugees entered Greece, a surge of 750 percent. Last month alone more migrants landed than in the whole of 2014.

Neutral and Non-Partisan

BERLIN/NIENBURG AN DER WESER (Own report) – The German Red Cross (DRK) and the German Bundeswehr have entered an unprecedented cooperation agreement. The so-called Future Pact foresees the direct integration of the DRK into the “Civil-Military Cooperation Center” of the German military located in Nienburg in Lower Saxony. The relief organization will also maintain a “permanent liaison office” and participate both in the planning and execution of combat operations. Back in 2003, the DRK explicitly committed itself to “cooperate” in military missions. In 2008, a federal law stipulated that the primary “task” of the relief organization was to “support the Bundeswehr’s medical service.” Since 2009, the DRK has maintained its own “representative for civil-military cooperation.” Since last year, this cooperation has been exercised within the framework of the “Joint Cooperation” maneuvers, which are explicitly aimed at the implementation of the “network” of the military and relief organizations, to be applied in foreign missions in civil war regions.