Source:
http://www.auswaertiges-amt.de/DE/Infoservice/Presse/Reden/2014/140201-BM_M%C3%BCSiKo.html
Speech by Federal Foreign Minister Dr. Frank -Walter Steinmeier at the 50th Munich Security Conference01.02.2014Ladies and Gentlemen,I was also a regular guest in the last four years here at the Munich Security Conference. Nevertheless, I am pleased to be able to speak as foreign minister of my country to you again today. You, dear Wolfgang , thank you for the invitation and the MSC - " at fifty" - my congratulations for your birthday.As Ewald von Kleist this forum yet established name among other things , it was not expected that it would influence far beyond the borders of our own country , the foreign and security policy debate . That was not to be expected , because Germany in the early years of this institution close to the edge of the Western world , at the intersection of East-West confrontation , lay, without their own foreign and security political power base . It is the care and commitment of Horst Teltschik and - for six years - thanks to Wolfgang Ischinger that the annual conference has been constantly modernized and extended and is sailing close to the wind with their topics of relevance. The MSC is more than just a family gathering of foreign and security policy community in the world - as it is - but it is far more than that, and that explains their relentless appeal : it is the forum in which globally available expertise in a year Munich brings together to discuss crises and conflicts , ways out of it , new threats and especially different perceptions and exchange .How important is especially the latter, has informed us this year , in which we remember the outbreak of the First World War , Christopher Clark in his book " The Sleepwalkers " . His message is a reminder. He has meticulously documented how in a few weeks of 1914 due to speechlessness , alienation, desire for personal recognition and national Eiferei first Europe and then the world in the seminal catastrophe of the 20th Century sank . Within a few weeks the situation was no longer manageable, cut all connections and death ate from house to house . To prevent that , to prevent peaceful coexistence again turns into boundless hatred , that even with different points of the conversation thread does not tear , also has the MSC made their contribution in 50 years and , if I see it correctly, to contribute further need .When I returned to the Foreign Office four weeks ago, my first thought was : it's the same office, it is the same desk that you left four years ago. But it's still the same world ? If you have a few years - more from the outside - has looked at the world, it falls a perhaps sharper eye , what has changed : the violent conflicts are moved closer to Europe , and on the European continent, they are overlooking the Ukraine returned .In East Asia, we are far away to really understand the reasons and the historical depth layers for the heightened pitch between China , Japan and the neighbors.And coming back from Geneva , I wonder whether we are really only talking about a bloody conflict in Syria or even about the impending erosion each state order throughout the Middle East , similar to the arc of crisis from the Sahel to the Gulf of Guinea.Reason enough to talk about the possibilities and limits of foreign policy , and of course the German role in it. Because I already publicly in recent days some have to say and the same can grudge on the podium still some in the brevity only seven theses :1.Germany must be willing to foreign and security policy earlier resolutely and bring substantial .2.The acquisition of foreign policy responsibility must be always concrete . You must not exhaust itself in Empörungsrhetorik or the mere marks of efforts and activities of others. A concrete example is the different position of the Federal Government in the offer, to destroy residual materials Syrian chemical weapons in German plants , which belong to the most advanced in the world.3.Deutschland wants and will provide a catalyst for a common European foreign, security and defense policy . Only when we throw our weight together in the pan , to the south and the east , Europe's foreign policy will be more than the sum of many small parts. In this spirit, we are now considering how we can support military specifically the stabilization of fragile states in Africa , especially in Mali, also .4.The use of military force is a last resort . In his use of restraint remains warranted . However, should a culture of restraint for Germany not to a culture of holding out . Germany is too large to comment on world politics only from the outside line. But the decisive factor is above all others , that we think together with other intensive and creative about how we equip the toolbox of diplomacy and make it usable for smart initiatives.5.Hier in Munich, we should use our collective weight to get a peaceful solution to the crisis in Ukraine closer . There must be no violent solution . When the powder keg glows the fuse , it is highly dangerous to play for time . President Yanukovych has to fulfill the commitments of the opposition made in full. Then there in the next few days is a realistic chance for a way out of political confrontation.6.When all the differences , we need to look for entry points together with Russia to make our relationship more constructive and cooperative . Only with Russia manages an agreement with Iran. Only with Russia succeeds in destroying the Syrian chemical weapons . We made a mistake, we would think the future of Europe without or even against Moscow. But I say as emphatically and clearly : it is Moscow's effort to define common interests.7.Europa and the United States of America have stood together in the past decades closely . For us, the North Atlantic Alliance remains indispensable reinsurance in a troubled world. No question about it : Europe and America are each other's closest economic and political partner. But our partnership does not live by continuity alone.TTIP is a great opportunity of strategic dimension. At the same time we need to check and clarify our partnership in the new digital world . The loss of confidence of many German in partnership with the U.S. can not leave us indifferent . He will not heal by itself. We see in President Obama's speech the expression of honest concern for America's security, but also concern for the cohesion of the West in the digital age . Here we have to address together. We need a suitable transatlantic forum in which we develop criteria for how we safeguard basic civil rights in the era of " Big Data " , which are rules for governments, but also for companies in the future apply . We would expect ourselves to one of the great questions of the future that will define the ratio of the younger generation to America. Our circle I have here of the importance of the transatlantic friendship does not convince - but a younger generation must first be won over for them. That's our job - and our responsibility.Ladies and Gentlemen,Syria , Ukraine , Iran, Iraq , Libya, Mali , Central African Republic, South Sudan , Afghanistan, tensions in East Asia - that is the partial list of "hot spots " in the coming year . The foreign and security policy will not run out of work.Thank you .
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