Baerbock scolds Saudi Arabia: Greens also avert disputes over arms exports

On Friday, the Greens softened the nuclear phase-out at the turn of the year, this Saturday they came to terms with the export of armaments to Saudi Arabia: A compromise proposal should receive broad approval - and make weapons more difficult for Riyadh in the future.

Baerbock scolds Saudi Arabia: Greens also avert disputes over arms exports

On Friday, the Greens softened the nuclear phase-out at the turn of the year, this Saturday they came to terms with the export of armaments to Saudi Arabia: A compromise proposal should receive broad approval - and make weapons more difficult for Riyadh in the future. Foreign Minister Baerbock is tough on Saudi Arabia.

At their party conference in Bonn, the Greens agreed on a common stance on arms exports and thus eliminated another potential conflict after the debate about the lifetime of nuclear power. "We want a restrictive arms export control law that creates transparency in particular about the licenses granted and their respective justification, as well as about the actual export of war weapons and armaments," says the motion, which includes change requests from the base. It is expected that the motion will receive broad approval at the federal delegates' conference this Saturday. A motion from the grassroots demanding a withdrawal of export licenses that have already been granted is considered a minority position.

In it, the authors record a conflict that worries the party: "Our value-guided foreign policy faces a dilemma: on the one hand, we want deeper armaments cooperation with our European partners in line with our values, on the other hand, up to a restrictive European arms export policy still requires a lot of persuasion." Saudi Arabia, for example, receives armaments that were developed in cooperation with several European countries. At the end of September, the federal government approved the export of spare parts and ammunition for the Eurofighter and Tornado combat aircraft.

"The government of Saudi Arabia is proven to be committing massive human rights violations and is a war party in the Yemen war. That's why we reject any arms exports to Saudi Arabia," says the Greens' motion. In fact, the federal government's comparatively restrictive arms export directive, which intends to sharpen the traffic light again, excludes such transactions with Riyadh or other comparable governments. At the European level, Federal Minister of Economics Robert Habeck does not have to stand in the way on instructions from his party. "We want joint European decisions on arms exports based on a joint assessment of the security situation and European values," the statement reads. Until then, Habeck would not have to veto friendly EU states for party reasons.

Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock also defended the formula found. "We do not deliver directly to Saudi Arabia. There are no German weapons for Saudi Arabia, where human rights are trampled on," Baerbock said in her speech. It is only about old contracts and the delivery by other EU partners of goods that were developed in Germany. The latter is a "difficult consideration". But without joint armaments projects, defending Germany would become even more expensive. "I want European cooperation on armaments issues so that we can defend ourselves and not have to weigh defense against social spending."

On Friday, the Greens had, among other things, nodded off Habeck's plan for a nuclear power plant reserve, albeit under narrowly defined conditions. This Saturday, the party is debating, among other things, its position in foreign and security policy and a motion to protect critical infrastructure. The debate about the coal compromise negotiated by Habeck in North Rhine-Westphalia is eagerly awaited: RWE had agreed to end opencast mining and coal-fired power generation in 2030, eight years earlier than planned. But because RWE is still allowed to demolish the Lützerath settlement, which is defended by many activists, things are fermenting at the party base and in the environmental and climate associations close to the Greens.