Germany working on new national security strategy: Minister

BERLIN (AA) – The German government announced on Friday that it has started working on a new national security strategy to address emerging threats and challenges.

Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said Russia’s war on Ukraine has demonstrated that Germany should take action to reduce one-sided economic and energy dependencies, and invest more on defense.

“Russia’s attack on Ukraine marks a geopolitical turning point with deep impact for European security,” she told a conference at the Foreign Ministry, which brought together diplomats, politicians and security experts to discuss a new and comprehensive strategy.

“If we want to make sure that the liberal idea is stronger than authoritarian regimes, we need to translate our principles into practical policy more effectively: through a clear stance, through decisive action, and with agile and effective tools,” she said.

Baerbock vowed to step up plans to strengthen EU’s military capabilities, but also underlined that these efforts should not undermine close cooperation among NATO allies.

“Doing ‘more in the EU’ does not mean doing ‘less in the transatlantic alliance’ when it comes to security policy,” she said.

The top German diplomat also stressed that NATO remains a cornerstone of Europe’s security.

“This war shows once again that the security of Europe depends on NATO’s military capabilities,” she said, adding that the EU will take this into consideration while drawing up its new military document, known as the Strategic Compass.

“The Strategic Compass intends to align the EU’s security and defense policy with that of NATO, thereby strengthening and further developing the European pillar of the transatlantic alliance,” she said.​​​​​​​