February 24, 2022 marks a turning point in the history of our continent. With Russia’s illegal attacks on Ukraine, war has returned to Europe. A lot has changed since then: in his historic speech on 27 February, Olaf Scholz announced an unprecedented change in Germany’s foreign and security policy. In accordance with the UN Charter, the German government supplies a large number of self-defense weapons to Ukraine and, together with other EU member states, has now issued six sanctions packages against Russia.

A few weeks ago, the SPD faction, along with the overwhelming majority in the Bundestag, finally launched a special “Bundeswehr” fund in the amount of 100 billion to strengthen Germany’s alliances and defense capabilities – and thus the first part of the “turning point” with a full life.

Mützenich: “A new global power structure is emerging”

However, the “turning point” is more meaningful. Putin’s war has challenged many perceived certainty. In recent months, the European and world security order and economic order have fundamentally changed. We are witnessing the emergence of new global power structures that are increasingly threatening the rules-based international order. Russia’s war of aggression destroys the project of a cooperative European peace order. At the same time, we must not rely solely on military deterrence, but must return to the difficult path of establishing new structures of cooperation in Europe and around the world.

The “turning point” must find comprehensive answers to all these challenges, which on the one hand strengthens our ability to defend ourselves and at the same time rests on trust building, development cooperation and compliance and promotion of international law in an expanded sense of the concept of security.

It takes strength and negotiation

Thus, the “turning point” is part of a long and successful tradition of social democratic foreign policy and security. After all, Willy Brandt and Egon Bahr’s policy of détente consisted essentially of two approaches: military force and a tireless policy of negotiation, often lengthy and tedious. That’s why accusations against the SPD that they are pursuing uncritical intimacy or even a policy of appeasement towards Russia are cheap. In the end, it was Ostpolitik that played a major role in overcoming the divisions of Germany and Europe, thereby laying the groundwork for the independence and democratization of many Eastern European countries that are now members of the EU and NATO. As Social Democrats, we can continue to be proud of this. At the same time, it is also clear that from February 24, 2022, for the foreseeable future, security will only be possible with Russia and no longer with it.

For this reason, after years of neutrality, the Social-Democratic-led governments in Finland and Sweden recently submitted applications to join NATO. The two countries not only represent military strengthening, but also bring important experience in the field of security cooperation. With his war of aggression against Ukraine, Putin has finally revived NATO, which US President Trump has described as “obsolete” and Macron as “brain dead”. At the same time, the European Union is also experiencing a revival. Since the outbreak of war, EU member states have acted more unitedly than they have for a long time. A new awareness of the importance of EU membership is also emerging among EU citizens.

The time has come for the European armed forces

Putin’s invasion also brought back the need for greater European defense capabilities. Therefore, it is also important for us to integrate special funds into joint European efforts and initiatives. After the start of the Korean War in 1950, French Prime Minister René Pleven proposed the creation of a European Defense Community with a European army and a European minister of defense. The time is not right, maybe now.

It is clear to us that we need a democratically consolidated, capable and strategically sovereign European Union so that we can assert ourselves in the future in the great power competition between China, Russia and the United States. With the “changing of eras” we must now dare to make more progress for Europe. At the same time, major global crises and challenges (climate, pandemic, food security, etc.) make clear how important it is that close multilateral and international cooperation and cooperation remains. It is therefore true and far-sighted that Chancellor Olaf Scholz invited Ukraine, Indonesia, India, Senegal, South Africa and Argentina as guest countries to the G7 Summit from 26 to 28 June in Elmau.