Today is 25 years since the Reunification of Germany with the direct participation of the Soviet Union. The union was made possible after a series of talks in the 2 + 4 format. Two is the West and the East Germany. And four is its allies, Great Britain, the US, France and the Soviet Union.
The Deputy Director of the Institute of Europe, Vladislav Belov, spoke about the transformation of the domestic and foreign policy of Germany for a quarter of the century, about the role in Europe and the world that Germany sees for itself, about the current level of Russian-German relations.
"Germany as a part of the EU has to take into account many parameters of membership of this complex organization. In many ways, Germany defines these processes. Germany has ceased to be a political dwarf in the framework of Europe, it is becoming the political giant, bound by the commitments not only of the EU but also NATO,’’ Belov said.
According to him, Germany is trying to assert itself as a foreign policy player: "In the past year, both the Minister of Foreign Affairs and the Federal President have declared a new culture of foreign policy, the so-called culture of responsibility, where Germany declares itself as a responsible player in world politics, which needs to take on more and more various commitments, various tasks. Germany wants to become a permanent member of the Security Council, the country plays in the spheres of Africa, Latin America, Eastern Europe, offering to expand the number of permanent members of the Security Council. Germany has positioned itself as a responsible player in the framework of the Middle East, Germany has positioned itself as a country that takes responsibility not only for refugees, but also for the processes that have been caused by these waves of refugees."
Speaking of the Russian-German relations, Belov said: ‘’We and Germany stress that our relations have a European context. Many issues are connected with the crisis processes within the European context that we are witnessing now. It was the EU that took decisions in April last year that in addition to the sanctions there would be a limit to the abolition of the summits, actually, a ban on all the EU countries to have high-level relations. This also applies to Germany. I see, first of all, the crisis at the level of the relations between the heads of the states."
Vladislav Belov expressed regret that the political crisis is accompanied by an information confrontation: ‘’Both in Russia and in Germany, the negative stereotypes are formed, unfortunately, the archetypal images of Russia in Germany, Germany in Russia. Suppose, the image of an aggressive country, of an imperial plan is formed in Germany, which replaces the concept, and Russia is increasingly seen as an enemy, then the trust of Russians in Germany has increased as well. More than 80% of those who previously considered Germany as an ally, a Verbündete, this number drops to almost two percent. Often you can find the same perception of Germany in Russia, as a hegemony state in Europe, a country that is trying to create a Fourth Reich, it brings a smile to German colleagues, but, unfortunately, such a picture reduces the credibility of the Russian side"
Belov believes that the fall in the economic indicators of mutual trade turnover and mutual investments is associated not only with sanctions, although they play an essential role in the worsening of the framework conditions, but also with Russian internal problems. The expert acknowledged that there are areas in which cooperation is developing, the scientific and technical cooperation, the cultural exchange, the students exchange, though the number of Russian students in Germany is much greater than the number of German students in Russia. "If we look at the cooperation between the cities, between the regions, there are quite a lot of best practices, which should be necessarily spread, must be covered by the media. And I see, at least, the chances of the economy within the framework of regional co-operation, when Russian regions, and the federal entities in Germany offer excellent opportunities for the export-import operations for the mutual investments, and so on. There are chances here, and despite the sanctions, we can use these reserves," Belov says.
