Germany abstained on Thursday in the UN Security Council vote authorizing the use of force, breaking ranks with the United States, France and Britain, and joining China and Russia.
“The impression that Germany is isolated in Europe or the international community is completely wrong. Many other countries in the European Union not only understand our position, not only respect it, but also share it,” he told a news conference.
Asked which EU countries shared Berlin’s policy, Westerwelle named Poland.
Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk told reporters in Warsaw on Friday: “When it comes to the military conflict in Libya and eventual intervention, the Polish position will be clear and cautious and we will respond calmly.”
He said there were no Polish or NATO security interests at stake. “We understand engagement and emotions driving some European leaders to quick and rapid moves, but we don’t share this feeling,” Tusk said.
Chancellor Angela Merkel’s decision to opt out of any military action in Libya has drawn furious criticism at home, putting the government on the defensive over a policy which opinion polls suggest should be popular with voters.
One newspaper accused Berlin of siding with dictators rather than its most important NATO allies, and on Sunday a senior politician in Merkel’s CDU party questioned the decision to abstain along with Beijing and Moscow, plus Brazil and India.
“You can show solidarity with the alliance without being right up in the front line,” Ruprecht Polenz, who chairs Parliament’s Foreign Affairs Committee, told Deutschlandfunk radio.
Three federal states vote in regional elections this weekend and next, and Germans are usually wary of foreign military engagements. But some analysts have suggested Berlin could have supported the UN resolution while making clear it would not participate directly in strikes on Libya.
Westerwelle noted that 7,000 German troops were on foreign missions, including 5,000 in Afghanistan. “We are meeting our international obligations,” he said.
Berlin has also suggested taking on AWACS aerial reconnaissance duties in Afghanistan, freeing up US forces to do the same job over Libya. NATO’s AWACS fleet is based in Germany and much of it is staffed my Germans.
However, Westerwelle said a final decision had yet to be made on any AWACS deployment in Afghanistan, which requires parliamentary approval.
In public at least, Merkel’s Libyan opt-out appears to have caused more upset at home than among Berlin’s allies.
“To be fair to the German chancellor ... she has been consistently skeptical about this issue,” said British Prime Minister David Cameron.
“I don’t believe that Germany in any way will be obstructive within NATO because they recognize that the UN has voted for this motion,” he told Parliament.
