FDP: Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann shoots sharply against Poland

Interview

“Europe is not just an opportunity, it is a future”, said FDP defense politician Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann at her party’s federal party conference last weekend. She was nominated as the top candidate of the Liberals for the European elections. In the event of a positive election, she would be voted in by the Bundestag Berlin move to the European Parliament in Brussels.

In January 2024, the FDP will finally vote on Strack-Zimmermann’s candidacy at the European Party Congress.

In her speech on her EU lead candidacy, the defense politician also emphasized on Friday:

Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann explains in the Interview with watson, what is important for her in Brussels and who she already has in mind.

Watson: Ms. Strack-Zimmermann, you were nominated as the FDP’s top EU candidate for the European elections. What do you want to achieve in the European Parliament in Brussels?

Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann: I will certainly not reinvent Brussels. But it is important to me to contribute the expertise that I have developed. In other words, to seek contact with European partners in order to build up a defense together.

What else?

It is also important to me that Europe People suggest. For many people, Brussels has an abstract, almost negative connotation. According to the motto: ‘Whoever goes to Europe, you can bend him directly’. But Europe is enormously important for all of us. Essential in defense. Organizing defense exclusively nationally will not be enough. After Russia’s brutal attack on Ukraine, we see what it means for the EU to stand together.

Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann visited Ukraine in October 2022.Image: Büro Strack-Zimmermann / Cord C. Schulz

Do you think this doesn’t work well enough at the moment?

It works. However, under the current pressure. We have 27 different national armies. It would be very exciting to create a 28th Army. A European. In which the states that want to participate can make their contribution. But that is a sensitive issue, because every nation understandably insists on making its own decisions on security issues. At the same time, getting a European army off the ground would be extremely interesting. Our European values ​​must be defended together and in concert.

If you go to Brussels, put something in Deutschland on.

Political influence within the party will remain. Also the close cooperation with the parliamentary group. We are not sitting on Mars in Brussels. I will therefore continue to put my full energy into the issue of defense until the June 2024 election. If the voters give me their vote in the European elections, there will be a successor in the Defense Committee.

There are more parliamentarians in the German Bundestag than in the European Parliament. But they are already known in Germany. Do you think you have more influence in Brussels than in Germany?

That is hard to say. The European Parliament now has significantly more influence over the past 20 years. But a lot is being done in the Commission. Each of us in the EU Parliament will take a position on this. That means you have to be very loud and pointed there too. In a positive sense, noisy. The role of parliamentarians must be taken seriously. I will try.

You said in the political talk show “Maischberger” on Wednesday that you would like to annoy Macron from Brussels.

Ms. Maischberger had said: “If you’re no longer in Berlin, you won’t have anyone left to annoy you.” I then pointed out that you can also annoy others from Europe. For example Macron. That was related to the statement made by the French President during his recent visit to China. While entertaining an autocrat, he has questioned Europe’s cohesion with the United States. The comment was immediately put into perspective by the Élysée Palace, but I found it totally off the mark, to put it mildly. counterproductive. Downright servile towards the Chinese.

Is there anyone else you’d like to annoy in Brussels?

I don’t annoy anyone for the sake of annoyance. We discuss the matter and some people are annoyed by the clarity. On the one hand, you should look closely at what Hungary might. On the other hand, I find it very regrettable that our partners in Poland keep campaigning at the expense of the Federal Republic of Germany. By talking badly about Germany, assuming they will win a lot of votes. I have already made it clear to my Polish colleagues in Berlin that I do not find this funny.

So the prime ministers of Poland, Mateusz Morawiecki, and Hungary, Viktor Orbán, would be potential discussion partners.

These are just examples. In Europe, Germany is expected to play a leading role. We should also accept this role. We have to make it clear that we are all in the same boat.

What else will you be doing in Brussels in the future?

Next up is the enlargement of the EU. The Ukraine, including Bosnia-Herzegovina, is a candidate for accession. The European family will grow, but it must grow stably and remain capable of acting. It doesn’t make sense if we’re getting more and more, but softening our own criteria. The criteria to become a member of the EU should always have to be met.