As a global trading nation, Germany, itself located in the heart of Europe, is dependent on the waterways, seas and oceans for its own - and its partners' - economic freedom and security... and yet there seems to be a lack of basic maritime understanding in politics and society, at least that is the impression.
How sensitive are our parties to maritime issues? This autumn, Germany will elect its 20th Bundestag and it has become a tradition for us to look at the parties' election manifestos and their maritime content! We started the series with the election programme of the Free Democrats (FDP)followed by the programmatic Offer from the Social Democrats (SPD) for the coming legislative period.
In this edition of the series, we want to present the basic programme of Alliance 90/The Greens This is followed by the position paper of the Christian Democrats (CDU/CSU) and then we will analyse the main topics of the Parties in the Wahl-O-Mat under the maritime magnifying glass.
As usual, we are not making any recommendations on the part of the editorial team, nor do we wish to pass judgement on the quality of the content. Instead, we would like to provide our readers with an initial overview: Is there a maritime awareness in the position of the respective party and how is it anchored? In this way, we want to encourage further debate and discussion. The programmes will be scanned for maritime content, and we will also look for the following terms (and their variations): Navy, Bundeswehr, shipyard, ship, maritime, offshore, harbour, trade, logistics, waterways, sea routes, water, sea, ocean, Baltic Sea, North Sea, Atlantic, Mediterranean, Indian Ocean and Pacific. As always, the parties themselves are responsible for the content and readability of their programmes!
Alliance 90/The Greens were represented in two federal governments from 1998 to 2005 as coalition partners of the Social Democrats and were in charge of four ministries, specifically Foreign Affairs, Consumer Protection, Health and the Environment. From the 272-page Bundestag election programme from Alliance 90/The Greens for the 2021 federal election (extract):
Protecting biodiversity on land and in the sea
The decline in species and the destruction of natural habitats is also continuing globally. We will campaign for an ambitious United Nations agreement on the conservation of biodiversity and implement it in Germany. In accordance with the European Union's biodiversity strategy, at least 30 per cent of the land area and 30 per cent of the oceans should be effectively protected. We want to anchor the UN Sustainable Development Goals everywhere as new guiding principles and ensure a coherent policy. In the marine sector, we are pursuing a joint international marine strategy. We will work to strengthen the protection of the oceans through binding agreements, close enforcement deficits and regulatory loopholes and thus bring them into focus so that previously legal pollution, such as tank washing on the high seas, is prohibited and overexploitation is prevented. We support programmes to stop global deforestation and to protect or reintroduce or resettle particularly endangered species. Land users whose livelihoods are threatened by conservation measures must receive compensation. We want to support targeted species conservation programmes at zoos and scientific institutes and at the same time improve the way animals are kept there. Together with the federal states, we want to protect and develop habitats for which we in Germany bear international responsibility, such as the Wadden Sea and ancient beech forests, better than before. When intervening in nature, unjustifiable risks such as the manipulation or extinction of entire populations or species through genetic engineering methods, so-called gene drives, must be ruled out. A comprehensive biomass strategy is needed to ensure that the production and import of biomass for energy generation or animal feed does not lead to the destruction of biodiversity.
Protecting and renaturalising rivers and moors
The renaturalisation of rivers, floodplains and forests and the rewetting of moors - all of this not only protects rare habitats and biodiversity, but also the climate. That is why we are launching a renaturalisation offensive. Near-natural streams and the last free-flowing rivers such as the Elbe must be preserved; we reject the expansion of the Oder, and this also applies to the tidal Elbe. Measures that worsen the ecological status of our watercourses are not permitted. We will enforce this requirement under European law. Rivers with wide floodplains and inundation areas are also the best protection against flooding and keep the water in the landscape. We will therefore reorganise the tasks of the federal waterway authorities according to ecological criteria. We want to strengthen specific programmes for wild streams, near-natural rivers, lakes, floodplains and wetlands such as the Blue Belt and, together with the federal states, finally implement the EU Water Framework Directive consistently. Peatland protection is climate protection. We therefore want to put an end to peat utilisation and rewet our moors as quickly and comprehensively as possible. To this end, we are launching a large-scale peatland restoration programme together with the federal states. In order to save the still intact moors from peat extraction, over-fertilisation and drainage, we will place them under strict protection. For utilised peatlands, we want to create economic prospects for sustainable wet agriculture and strengthen extensive pasture farming and paludiculture.
Clean water is life
Water is our most important foodstuff. Fertilisers, pesticides, detergent residues and drug residues do not belong in our water. To protect our groundwater, lakes, rivers and oceans, we therefore want to establish clear legal requirements, for example to limit the area used for livestock farming and the use of pesticides and fertilisers, and to improve wastewater treatment plants. A polluter-pays fund and a reform of the wastewater levy should lead to a fair distribution of the costs of wastewater and drinking water treatment. We want to strengthen the product responsibility of manufacturers. For example, we are reducing the formation of resistance and other dangers of pharmaceutical residues in water by improving authorisation and disposal regulations for medicines. Particularly dangerous and poorly degradable pollutants must no longer be allowed to enter the water cycle. We are finally implementing EU water legislation consistently and significantly reducing the entry of hormone-altering substances and microplastics into water. The priority of drinking water supply over commercial use must be ensured, we want to promote the reuse of wastewater and storage of rainwater and create incentives to save water. We also make the precautionary principle the guiding principle in water protection, which is why we want to rule out fracking and future oil and gas extraction projects in mining law.
Protect the oceans, stop the flood of plastic waste
The oceans are in a catastrophic state - and this threatens to worsen due to further acidification, over-fertilisation, overfishing, pollution and plastic waste. In order to stem the tide of plastic waste, we want to initiate an internationally binding agreement to stop plastic waste in our oceans and launch an immediate programme with ambitious waste prevention targets. We want to promote technology that enables the salvage of munitions waste in the North and Baltic Seas and environmentally friendly fishing of waste from the sea. Oil production facilities in the North Sea are leaking toxic substances as a result of accidents, oily drilling mud with drilling waste and gas flaring. We are campaigning for an end to the extraction of fossil fuels. In the German Exclusive Economic Zone, we want to implement an immediate halt to new oil and gas drilling and an end to extraction by 2025. At European and international level, we are campaigning for an end to oil and gas extraction in the entire North Sea and Baltic Sea. We also want to drive forward the phase-out of gravel and sand extraction in protected areas and at the same time prevent overexploitation in countries of the Global South through import standards. In order to end overfishing, stabilise fish stocks and give fishermen a sustainable perspective, we want to adjust fishing quotas and fishing agreements, extend closed seasons and achieve the conversion of fishing to environmentally, climate and species-friendly fishing methods. This also includes phasing out bottom trawling, which is harmful to the climate and the environment, as quickly as possible and regulating gillnets in a way that protects nature. We want to orientate fisheries subsidies towards ecological marine use. We will support regional fishing businesses in the transition as well as in developing alternatives through environmentally friendly tourism offers. An important step towards adequately rewarding ecological fishing and aquaculture is a binding and transparent labelling system for protected areas. Labelling. The implementation of the EU Marine Strategy Framework Directive, a moratorium on deep-sea mining and the designation of large-scale, non-utilised marine protected areas are necessary to ensure that the world's oceans are alive.
The energy revolution: renewable heating, living and business
Climate neutrality means getting out of fossil fuels. Not only electricity, but also the petrol in our cars, the paraffin in our aircraft tanks, the heavy fuel oil in our ships, the oil for heating and the gas in our industrial operations must be converted to renewable energies. This is nothing less than an energy revolution. First and foremost, this requires a massive expansion offensive for renewables that is implemented as quickly as possible. The future of our industrial location and our security of supply depend on it. The expansion path is limited by the strength and capacity of industry and tradespeople, but must not be restricted by the political framework conditions. That is why we are removing existing obstacles to expansion in a continuous process - in an environmentally friendly manner and in favour of the public. From now on, our goal is to add at least 5 to 6 gigawatts (GW) of onshore wind capacity per year, and 7 to 8 GW from the mid-2020s; for offshore wind, we want 35 GW by 2035. In the area of solar energy, we will increase the expansion from an initial 10 to 12 GW to 18 to 20 GW per year from the mid-2020s. With a comprehensive reform of taxes and levies, we want to ensure that sector coupling makes progress and that electricity is available at reliable and competitive prices. We are changing the energy market design so that renewable electricity is no longer held back. We are putting solar and wind at the centre and enabling industry, trade and commerce to make a particularly large contribution to the integration of renewables through more flexible consumption. We will utilise peaks in generation for storage and the production of heat or green hydrogen in line with the principle of "using instead of switching off". We are eliminating double loads and other braking blocks. We secure critical infrastructures with emergency power-capable solar systems. We are equipping distribution grids and consumers with smart technology so that they can react flexibly when a lot of renewable electricity is being produced.
Securing Germany as a business location with wind energy expansion
We also need to make faster progress with wind power, for example by strengthening the expansion outside of tenders. When expanding wind power, we need to minimise conflicts with nature conservation and species protection, protect local residents and speed up approval procedures, including by reducing bureaucratic hurdles and creating clear framework conditions. As a first step, we want to define renewable energies as essential for security of supply and use 2 per cent of the land nationwide for this purpose. All federal states must make their respective contributions to this. We reject any plans to prevent this. Excessive, blanket minimum distances from settlements do nothing to increase acceptance. By involving local residents at an early stage, establishing clear priority and suitability areas for wind energy, as well as exclusion areas and targeted species protection programmes, we will ensure that sites are chosen in a way that is friendly to residents and compatible with nature, while at the same time strengthening the protection of birds and bats. We will speed up planning and approvals through simplified procedures, more staff and standardised assessment standards. We want to make repowering easier so that old wind turbines at the same location can be quickly replaced with more powerful ones. We will enable turbines that are over 20 years old to continue operating. We also want to support the construction of wind turbines in the immediate vicinity of industry and commerce in order to produce electricity where it is needed and where noise protection for local residents can be more easily guaranteed. We are further expanding our offshore parks and linking them in the European Energy Union with the solar parks of the Mediterranean states and the hydropower of Scandinavia and the Alps. The more networked, the stronger. One continent is a good size for the energy transition.
Making our energy infrastructure climate-neutral
[...] Because natural gas is also a climate-damaging fuel, its use must continue to decrease. We want to reduce the extremely climate-damaging emissions caused by natural gas production and transport as quickly as possible. New port terminals for landing liquefied natural gas should no longer be authorised. New natural gas pipelines such as Nord Stream 2, which are not geared towards green hydrogen, will cement dependencies on climate-damaging resources for decades to come, thwart the energy transition and should be stopped.
A green hydrogen strategy
Hydrogen from renewable energies, so-called green hydrogen, is central to security of supply in a climate-neutral world. This is because hydrogen is easy to store and, if it is produced using electricity from renewable energies, it is also climate-friendly. Germany is far ahead in hydrogen production technologies. We want to further expand this leading role and create the corresponding infrastructure. [...] It is therefore important to use hydrogen and synthetic fuels precisely where they are really needed: in industry, shipping and air transport, for example.
Sustainable freight transport
Millions of tonnes of goods are transported through Germany every day, today mostly in the form of endless caravans of lorries on our roads. In a climate-neutral Germany, freight transport must also be sustainable, emission-free and less noisy. To reduce lorry traffic, we want to shift freight transport from road to rail. To achieve this, we will upgrade the combination of road, rail and water and reconnect industry and commerce to the rail network - also in the countryside. We are promoting investment in modern freight transport technology, intermodal freight transport centres and transhipment terminals for combined freight transport. We are also focusing on regional economic cycles and the opportunities offered by digitalisation and networking in the organisation of logistics.
Making shipping climate and environmentally friendly
An internationally competitive maritime economy is of crucial importance for a foreign trade-orientated country like Germany. We are in favour of the development of a joint seaport concept by the federal and state governments that focuses on cooperation between locations rather than competition. We want to make shipping climate-neutral through binding emission reduction targets and inclusion in EU emissions trading. We are setting the political framework conditions to ensure that shipping moves away from heavy fuel oil and its toxic emissions as quickly as possible and that shore-side power systems, low-emission terminals, alternative ship propulsion systems and climate-neutral fuels, as well as fair working conditions for all those involved in shipping, become established instead. To this end, we are pushing for higher standards worldwide. Modernised inland waterway vessels must make an important contribution to climate-neutral freight transport in the future. We see it as our responsibility to ensure that all waterways are in good ecological condition. Dilapidated waterways must be renovated in an environmentally friendly manner, and there should be a moratorium on river deepening and a fundamental review as part of the reorganisation of the federal network plan in line with the new UN Decade for the Restoration of Ecosystems.
Helping the tourism industry get back on its feet sustainably
The travel and tourism industry - a key economic factor and employer of millions - has been hit hard by the coronavirus crisis. We want to help it get back on its feet and at the same time make post-corona tourism more climate-friendly, ecological and socially sustainable. Ecologically and socially blind mass tourism with climate-damaging cruise ships, endless waste production and huge consumption of resources has no future. On the contrary, cruise shipping must finally make its contribution through new propulsion systems, the use of shore-side electricity and better environmental standards. Sustainable tourism, on the other hand, offers huge opportunities. We want to develop sustainable or soft tourism in rural regions in particular, for example by expanding tourist cycle paths and waterways. With a shelter system like the one in Denmark, we want to make nature accessible to everyone. At the same time, national parks, biosphere reserves and nature reserves should be sustainably protected through regulated tourism.
Creating safe and legal escape routes
No one should have to risk their own life or that of their family for the right to seek asylum, which is enshrined in international law. However, this is precisely the bitter reality: there are still far too few options for safe access routes and refugees are therefore forced to take life-threatening routes through the desert or across the sea. We want to create safe and legal access routes - so that people can find protection and to prevent smugglers from profiting from the hardship and suffering of refugees. [...] We are also in favour of taking in local Afghan forces and their families who are in danger due to their cooperation with German institutions such as the Bundeswehr or the GIZ. The individual right to asylum remains untouched.
Creating security in cyber and information space
Digitalisation and new technologies offer many new opportunities, but also create risks for open, democratic societies and raise serious ethical, political and legal questions in certain areas. They change the possibilities of state and non-state influence on individual freedoms and social discourse, democratic voting processes and modern warfare. The state has a duty to effectively protect the population from such attacks. Cross-departmental strategies to combat hybrid threats, clear legal requirements and strong parliamentary oversight of the Bundeswehr's actions in cyberspace are needed for early detection, analysis and joint action by government agencies. The Bundeswehr needs a self-image orientated towards protection and defence in the digital space. At the same time, all state institutions must continuously strengthen their resilience and operators of critical infrastructures in particular must be supported in this endeavour. We are in favour of new international agreements to strengthen the arms control of digital goods and international law. The validity of the UN Charter must be extended and international humanitarian law must also be applied in cyberspace. To this end, European cooperation must also be expanded, and Germany must make a corresponding contribution.
Fulfilling the international responsibility to protect
It is important to intervene in conflicts at an early stage and prevent them from escalating into armed conflict. We are guided by the United Nations' "Responsibility to Prepare, Protect and Rebuild" concept, which obliges the international community to protect people from the most serious human rights violations, crimes against humanity and genocide. The states are equally obliged to expand their instruments for prevention, crisis response and aftercare and reconstruction of war-torn societies. We support international missions within the framework of the United Nations that contribute to stability, the protection of the civilian population and the implementation of peace processes. We endeavour to eliminate resource and capability gaps in this area and significantly increase the civilian and military contribution to UN missions. We want to significantly increase the proportion of women among deployed forces, police officers and soldiers, especially in leadership positions, through targeted recruitment. The use of military force as a last resort, when all other options such as sanctions or embargoes have been exhausted, may be necessary in some situations to prevent genocide and create the opportunity for a political solution to a conflict. A mission needs a clear and fulfilable mandate, balanced civilian and military capabilities and independent (interim) evaluations. Armed deployments of the Bundeswehr abroad must be embedded in a system of mutual collective security - i.e. not in unconstitutional coalitions of the willing - and in an overall political concept based on the Basic Law and international law. A mandate from the United Nations is required for interventions in the sovereignty of a state or where state sovereignty is lacking. If the right of veto in the Security Council is misused to cover up the most serious crimes against humanity, the international community faces a dilemma, because non-action is just as damaging to human rights and international law as action.
Modern Bundeswehr
The mission and tasks of the Bundeswehr must be orientated towards the real and strategically significant challenges to security and peacekeeping and be integrated into the actions of the state as a whole. Germany should be able to rely on its allies, and its allies should be able to rely on Germany. This also means that the Bundeswehr must be securely and predictably equipped in terms of personnel and equipment and organised in the best possible way in accordance with its mission and tasks. It is unacceptable for soldiers to go on deployments with inadequate protective equipment. In addition to sufficient and optimal equipment at all times, we want soldiers to receive comprehensive care and support after deployments and to expand the range of services for those who have suffered injuries during deployment. The Bundeswehr should reflect the variety and diversity of our society in its personnel structure. Anti-human ideologies and right-wing extremist behaviour are in no way compatible with the mission of the Bundeswehr and the duties of soldiers. We will therefore pursue this consistently and dismantle such structures. In addition to comprehensive education, effective prevention is crucial, through practised and further developed Innere Führung, responsible recruitment and modern, binding political education. We reject the recruitment of minors and the armed deployment of the Bundeswehr within Germany and want to end voluntary military service in homeland defence as well as to ensure equal rights for political education in schools by strengthening civilian crisis prevention and conflict management. Armed drones have been and are often used by our allies for extrajudicial killings and other acts that violate international law. For us Greens, such use is unthinkable and incompatible with German constitutional and defence law. At the same time, we recognise that these systems can better protect soldiers in certain situations. It must therefore be made clear for which Bundeswehr deployment scenarios armed drones should be used at all before a decision can be made on their procurement. Technical challenges such as possible hackability must also play an important role in the overall assessment.
Realigning NATO strategically
NATO is suffering from diverging security policy interests within the alliance, including conflicts between states. It lacks a clear strategic perspective in this deep crisis. Nevertheless, from a European perspective, it remains an indispensable player alongside the EU that can guarantee Europe's common security and, as an alliance of states, counteracts the renationalisation of security policy. As part of the ongoing strategy process, we will advocate a repositioning of NATO and, building on this, a debate on fair burden-sharing and balanced participation of the member states in order to jointly develop strategic interests based on European values such as multilateralism, democracy and the rule of law and to represent them more coherently and convincingly. The NATO 2 per cent target, which is not based on capabilities and empowerment, does not provide an answer to this and we therefore reject it. We are in favour of a new objective that is not abstract, national and static, but is based on common tasks, and we will seek to discuss this with our NATO partners. This also includes greater military cooperation and coordination within the EU and with European NATO partners such as the UK and Norway.
Shaping Europe's security together
Together with its international partners, the European Union must live up to its responsibility for its own security and defence. The Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP) requires a common EU foreign policy. We want to establish an EU security union with strong parliamentary control and a common restrictive arms export policy with strict rules and enforceable sanctions. Instead of channelling more and more money into parallel national military structures, we want to expand increased cooperation between the armed forces in the EU, pool military capabilities, achieve more efficient procurement and close generally recognised capability gaps jointly and by consolidating the European armaments sector. This requires appropriate equipment, the expansion of EU units and the strengthening and consolidation of the joint EU command structure and European initiatives such as Permanent Structured Cooperation (PESCO). Joint EU missions abroad should be more closely monitored and controlled by the European Parliament. We reject the reallocation of funds from the EU budget that were previously earmarked exclusively for civilian purposes for military purposes.
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