BERLIN, 12 December 2002 — German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder was Tuesday night facing a new threat to his government’s already fragile relations with the Bush administration as a row continued among his followers over how far Berlin could go in backing a US invasion of Iraq.
At the center of the dispute is America’s entitlement to use German airspace and its own military bases in a war.
Unimpeded access was at the top of a list of assurances sought by the US as relations with Berlin began to emerge from cold store. American air bases at Ramstein and Spangdahlem have played a crucial role in recent US operations in Europe, including the NATO air strikes on Kosovo three years ago.
While reiterating his opposition to any war against Iraq and vowing that German troops would not take part, Schroeder nevertheless assured President Bush that US planes would be able to use German airspace and the US military’s bases on German soil. Overflights are governed by a NATO agreement which stipulates that the US must ask for permission from Berlin.
However, in the view of the newly elected co-leader of the Greens, the junior partner in Schroder’s coalition, granting such permission could involve the government in an illegal act. Angelika Beer said allowing US forces to use German airspace or bases in Germany would be a violation of the constitution, unless the war had the blessing of the UN.
“The constitution comes before the obligations of the federal government,” she said.
Her claim was dismissed by the general secretary of Schroeder’s Social Democrat party. But a more cautious note was sounded from the Foreign Ministry, which is answerable to a Green, Joschka Fischer. A Foreign Ministry spokesman stressed that the UN Security Council’s resolution 1441 formed the basis for all action by the German government.
The Berlin newspaper, Berliner Zeitung, Tuesday complained of a “cacophony of opinions and counteropinions sounding through the government camp”.
A split over Iraq and a renewed row with Washington were the very last things that Schroeder needed at a time when he is struggling with popular outrage over tax rises, a deteriorating economic situation and growing evidence that the Greens and Social Democrats are split on the economy too.
He was Tuesday reported to have tried to whip his warring party followers into line with a threat to quit. Officials at first denied the remark, but a minister tipped to succeed the chancellor subsequently confirmed the story. The economy and labor minister, Wolfgang Clement, who was present when Schroeder was said to have made the comment, said: “The question basically, in indirect form, was: ‘If there’s someone who thinks they can do it better. ..’ But honestly I was there the whole time and no one put their hand up.”
The chancellor’s difficulties over Iraq may not stop at the issue of constitutional legitimacy. There is also a question mark over troop participation. The US is known to want help from NATO’s Awacs airborne early warning and control system and about a quarter of the crews manning the 17 Awacs planes are German. Last weekend it was reported that Washington expected the German crews to remain at their posts in the event of a war on Iraq.
That would pose an excruciating dilemma for Schroeder, who turned the tables on the right in September’s general election with a campaign focusing on opposition to what he termed America’s planned “military adventure”. His tactics caused bitter resentment in the US administration after one of his ministers compared Bush’s motives with those of Hitler. First National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice, and then Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld described the atmosphere as having been “poisoned”. (The Guardian)
