Ukraine in the Context of the Election Campaign in Germany

Will “Merkel’s Last Accord” Factor Work?

 

 

The nearer the main event of the year — the parliamentary elections in Germany — comes, the more intensifies the political struggle between the leading parties and their candidates, constantly criticizing their opponents and publishing compromising facts. The agenda includes the strategy of the country’s future political leadership in the context of Angela Merkel’s dismissal as Chancellor and a change in the vector of Germany’s relations with Russia and the United States. Angela Merkel, as Chancellor, advises her successors to continue to adhere to the “rules and standards” she has set in politics, including in relations with Russia. Because she is quite sure that she has done her best to ensure that the relations between Germany and the United States in Europe satisfy the main geopolitical players. But in the context of further relations with Washington and, in particular, the attitude to the future of Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline, German politicians and the media sometimes mention Ukraine. Merkel’s “last accord” factor is being used by opponents of the currently ruling CDU/CSU coalition to criticize her and minimize the influence of her nominees in the parliamentary elections.

However, as expected, the recent visit of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyi to Germany did not affect this course of events. The canceled protocol meetings with Germany’s Defense and Foreign Ministers and a meeting with candidate for Chancellor, a representative of the ruling coalition, Armin Laschet, confirm the uncertainty of German policy toward Ukraine. The situation for Ukrainian foreign policy is getting more complicated by the postponed visit of the President of Ukraine to the United States at the end of August, partially due to his unsuccessful visit to Germany and the results of negotiations between Germany and the United States in Washington on the Nord Stream 2 agenda. Angela Merkel diplomatically explained that everything will happen to Ukraine as decided in Germany and the United States. And while Germany, represented by Angela Merkel, has long advocated the completion of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline, calling it an “exclusively economic project”, US President Joe Biden has radically changed his previous position, that is, agreed to its completion and operation. The President of Ukraine will have to provide his strong arguments during his visit to the United States, given the consolidated anti-Ukrainian position of Berlin and Washington on the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline.

The article is available in Ukrainian

 

Схожі публікації