The reluctance of German politicians to take a strong line on defence policy poses a security risk for Europe.

Defence policy has generally played a much smaller role in German election campaigns than it has in other countries. As Tom Dyson writes, this is largely because German politicians view the issue as a ‘vote loser’, with little potential to improve a party’s electoral success. Nevertheless, he argues that this approach is highly misguided in the context of modern security challenges. While the CDU/CSU’s platform for this month’s federal elections shows few signs of a change in approach, the SPD have championed stronger German leadership of the EU’s Common Security and Defence Policy. He notes however that it would be difficult for the SPD to live up to these promises due to the institutional constraints German governments are forced to work under.

ESO: Background information: German federal election, 2013 http://www.europeansources.info/record/german-federal-election-2013/

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