Is Germany prepared for another Trump presidency?
Following the success of the former US leader in Iowa state Republican primaries, German politicians called for the Bundesrepublik to brace itself for another Trump presidency - especially when it comes to defence spending.
Following former US President Donald Trump's success in the first Republican primary in the state of Iowa on Monday evening, the conservative CDU/CSU in particular is urging Germany’s coalition government to prepare for the event of a new Trump term in office.
"The German government can no longer ignore domestic political developments in the USA. The USA is too important a partner for that," said Jürgen Hardt (CDU), foreign policy spokesman for the CDU/CSU parliamentary group in the Bundestag, to DPA in Berlin on Tuesday.
The primaries in Iowa showed two things, he said: "Forty percent did not vote for Trump. And yet it is high time to prepare for a President Trump."
Thorsten Frei, Parliamentary Secretary of the CDU/CSU parliamentary group, said that Trump had achieved a better result than eight years ago in the same place - which showed the government needs “to prepare ourselves for the fact that Trump will ultimately come out on top,” said Frei.
"Then Germany and Europe will have to learn to walk and grow up," he said.
READ ALSO: How Americans in Europe can vote in the US primary elections
He called it "irresponsible to go into such a situation so unprepared", adding that the CDU/CSU would be available for talks with the coalition at any time in order to find a solution to the question of how to position itself as strong and resilient.
To prepare for the upcoming challenge, the Bundeswehr, Germany's army, needs to be made fit for war and capable of defence, and civil defence must also be strengthened.
‘Dangerous’ consequences
Trump claimed a clear and surprisingly quick victory in his party's primaries in Iowa. Several US television stations declared the ex-president the winner on Monday evening local time just over 30 minutes after the start of voting. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis seized second place by a clear margin.
The former US ambassador to the United Nations, Nikki Haley, came in third place. The two were in a neck-and-neck race for the second spot.
CDU foreign policy expert Norbert Röttgen told Berlin’s Tagesspiegel that one of the top things the government needs to do to prepare for Trump is to "ramp up our defence production so that Ukraine can defend itself against a Russian attack without US help. Europe's freedom depends on this".
According to Agnieszka Brugger, Vice-Chairwoman of the Green Party, a radicalisation course already started in the run up to the primaries, and has had negative consequences for an international policy aimed at “security, solidarity and respect for international law,” she said.
The current debate in Congress on aid for Ukraine shows how dangerous isolationism in large parts of the Republican Party is for European security, Brugger said in a statement.
"It is therefore all the more necessary these days for Germany to send even stronger and long-term substantial signals of support to Ukraine from the centre of Europe and for the EU to quickly strengthen its ability to act and its sovereignty, especially in matters of foreign and security policy."
By the end of Trump's first term, surveys by the Pew Research Center found that America's image among Europeans has plummeted to record lows, with just 26 percent of Germans now holding a favourable view of the superpower.
READ ALSO: German-US alliance 'on life support' after four years of Trump
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Following former US President Donald Trump's success in the first Republican primary in the state of Iowa on Monday evening, the conservative CDU/CSU in particular is urging Germany’s coalition government to prepare for the event of a new Trump term in office.
"The German government can no longer ignore domestic political developments in the USA. The USA is too important a partner for that," said Jürgen Hardt (CDU), foreign policy spokesman for the CDU/CSU parliamentary group in the Bundestag, to DPA in Berlin on Tuesday.
The primaries in Iowa showed two things, he said: "Forty percent did not vote for Trump. And yet it is high time to prepare for a President Trump."
Thorsten Frei, Parliamentary Secretary of the CDU/CSU parliamentary group, said that Trump had achieved a better result than eight years ago in the same place - which showed the government needs “to prepare ourselves for the fact that Trump will ultimately come out on top,” said Frei.
"Then Germany and Europe will have to learn to walk and grow up," he said.
READ ALSO: How Americans in Europe can vote in the US primary elections
He called it "irresponsible to go into such a situation so unprepared", adding that the CDU/CSU would be available for talks with the coalition at any time in order to find a solution to the question of how to position itself as strong and resilient.
To prepare for the upcoming challenge, the Bundeswehr, Germany's army, needs to be made fit for war and capable of defence, and civil defence must also be strengthened.
‘Dangerous’ consequences
Trump claimed a clear and surprisingly quick victory in his party's primaries in Iowa. Several US television stations declared the ex-president the winner on Monday evening local time just over 30 minutes after the start of voting. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis seized second place by a clear margin.
The former US ambassador to the United Nations, Nikki Haley, came in third place. The two were in a neck-and-neck race for the second spot.
CDU foreign policy expert Norbert Röttgen told Berlin’s Tagesspiegel that one of the top things the government needs to do to prepare for Trump is to "ramp up our defence production so that Ukraine can defend itself against a Russian attack without US help. Europe's freedom depends on this".
According to Agnieszka Brugger, Vice-Chairwoman of the Green Party, a radicalisation course already started in the run up to the primaries, and has had negative consequences for an international policy aimed at “security, solidarity and respect for international law,” she said.
The current debate in Congress on aid for Ukraine shows how dangerous isolationism in large parts of the Republican Party is for European security, Brugger said in a statement.
"It is therefore all the more necessary these days for Germany to send even stronger and long-term substantial signals of support to Ukraine from the centre of Europe and for the EU to quickly strengthen its ability to act and its sovereignty, especially in matters of foreign and security policy."
By the end of Trump's first term, surveys by the Pew Research Center found that America's image among Europeans has plummeted to record lows, with just 26 percent of Germans now holding a favourable view of the superpower.
READ ALSO: German-US alliance 'on life support' after four years of Trump
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