“Manifest”: Prominent SPD politicians are calling for talks with Russia

With a basic paper referred to as the “manifest” under the title “Peace insurance in Europe through defense ability, armaments control and understanding”, a number of prominent social democrats demand an immediate turnaround in foreign and security policy. The authors call for talks with Russia as an alternative to arming the Bundeswehr, as Defense Minister Boris Pistorius plans. In addition, they urge to stop the stationing of new American medium-range missiles and declare NATO’s 5 percent goal to be “irrational”.

The paper that star is, the line of the Federal Government and the course of its own party leadership crosses. “In Germany and in most European countries, forces have prevailed that are looking for the future, especially in a military confrontation strategy and hundreds of billions of euros for upgrade,” says the “Manifesto”. “The compulsion to be more and more armor and to prepare for an allegedly threatening war is conjured up instead of linking the necessary defense capacity with an armaments control and disarmament policy in order to achieve common security and mutual peace ability.”

The paper is signed by several dozen prominent social democrats, which mostly come from the left wing. The former parliamentary group leader Rolf Mützenich is, the foreign politician Ralf Stegner, ex-party leader Norbert Walter-Borjans, as well as other members of the Bundestag, mandate bearer and the former Federal Finance Minister Hans Eichel.

The authors of the paper go to court with the debate led by the government parties. “Military alarm rhetoric and huge upgrade programs no longer create security for Germany and Europe, but lead to destabilization and to strengthen the mutual threat perception between NATO and Russia,” it says.

The Social Democrats are calling for several concrete measures, including a approach to Russia. It is necessary to “intensify the diplomatic efforts of all European countries,” it says. “The support of Ukraine in its international law claims must be linked to the legitimate interests of all security and stability in Europe. On this basis, the extraordinarily difficult attempt must be made to talk to Russia again after the silence of weapons.”

The text comes at a delicate time. At the end of June, the SPD stands before a federal party conference on which a new program is to be discussed after the difficult election defeat. The NATO summit takes place almost at the same time, where Germany wants to commit to massively screw up the defense spending.

The authors also criticize the planned massive increase in defense spending. “For an increase in the defense budget to 3.5 or 5 percent of the gross domestic product, there is no security policy justification. We think it is irrational to determine a percentage of expenses for military purposes based on GDP.”

It is also required to stop the stationing of new American medium -range missiles in Germany. “The stationing of far-reaching, hyper-fast US rocket systems in Germany would make our country the target of the very beginning.” A “gradual return to relaxation of relationships and cooperation with Russia and the needs of the needs of the global south are necessary, especially to combat the common threat from climate changes”.

Foreign politician Ralf Stegner, one of the leading authors of the text, told the star, The aim of the surcharge is also to adjust the party -internal debate. “The SPD has to remain part of the peace movement. At the moment, we are talking about the next land war and the compulsory conscription. We have to defend ourselves against this form of militarization as social democrats,” he said. “We are not allowed to leave that to the populists. They are not for peace – they are for Putin.”