Donald Trump’s election victory triggers a political shock wave in Berlin. Doubts are growing as to whether Germany has adequately prepared for this scenario in recent years. The federal government is facing a dilemma.
There is a hangover atmosphere in political Berlin. The federal government in particular had hoped for many months that Germany would ultimately be spared this development. But now it is clear: Donald Trump has been elected as the 47th President of the United States. In addition to numerous crises, wars and generally growing global disorder, Germany and Europe will also have to readjust their relationship with the USA and especially with another Trump administration. And Germany would have been only too happy to do without that.
Stay calm, Germany is well prepared for Trump. That is the dominant message that many German politicians communicated in the Bundestag on Wednesday. But there is certainly disillusionment behind the scenes, because Donald Trump’s election victory sets transatlantic relations back years and endangers what incumbent US President Joe Biden had struggled to rebuild after Trump’s first term in office.
The shock in Berlin is therefore deep, even among those politicians and experts who previously believed a Trump victory was possible.
The Trump storm is coming. But how well is Germany prepared for four more years with a president in the White House who is considered unpredictable in international politics? All political seals closed, Europe will now be about internal unity. The problem child here is Germany, because after the end of the traffic light coalition, the Federal Republic has a government without a majority. Trump’s return to the White House will be expensive, especially for Germany.
More German sovereignty in security and defense policy. More cooperation in Europe. These are the messages that German politicians spread almost like a mantra in Berlin on Wednesday. The former traffic light parties and the Union probably agree on these goals.
But on the day after the US election, the disagreement between political actors as to how this goal should be achieved becomes clear. In the political debate about the consequences of Trump’s return, many vessels are put on the table. In Germany, measures are being discussed that will be necessary after Trump returns to the White House. But exactly how these political vessels can be filled remains open the day after the US election.
Green Party leader Omid Nouripour also remains rather vague: “The connections and dependencies between the USA and Europe are great and it will become clear whether our measures were sufficient,” he said in an interview with t-online. “I believe that we still need to do a lot more, especially at the European level. We need significantly more security investments in this country and more European cooperation. Times are very serious, we all see that.”
The outgoing Green Party leader is also on the board of the Atlantic Bridge, the association that wants to strengthen transatlantic cooperation and which Trump will now once again pose immense challenges. After a press conference on Wednesday, Nouripour gave a short interview to several German television stations in which he claimed that Europe cannot compensate for the loss of the Americans in terms of security policy with regard to military equipment.
