Jana Puglierin, Head of Office and Senior Policy Fellow European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR)
Tuesday, January 12, 2021, 12 Noon (Note: Date and Time Change)
Chancellor Angela Merkel’s decision to step down in 2021 after 16 years in this position means that the election of her successor next year will be the most important one in Europe. However, before the chancellor election, a new leader must be selected by Mrs. Merkel’s center-right Christian Democratic Union (CDU) party. Two years ago, Mrs. Merkel stepped down from her party’s leadership. Her favored successor, Mrs. Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer (AKK), Germany’s minister of defense, was chosen to lead the CDU. Unfortunately, her tenure was short lived as she made some missteps and resigned earlier this year. AKK is still the leader until the CDU meeting in 2021.
Once a leader is selected, the CDU must engage with its coalition party, the Bavarian Christian Social Union (CSU), to select a joint candidate to run for the chancellor’s position. The CDU leader will be in the pole position to become the chancellor candidate in the federal election. Among the many issues in that election are Germany’s defense spending and its policy towards Russia and China.
While Germany’s defense spending has had some sizable increases recently, it spent only 1.57% of its gross domestic product (GDP) in 2020. The target of GDP that NATO members have agreed to contribute is 2%. President-elect Biden is expected to continue the pressure initiated during the Obama administration and increased significantly under Trump to have Europeans pay more of their military defense.
In its policy towards Russia and China, Germany’s commercial interests tend to be more influential than its geopolitical ones. As an example, the Nord Stream 2, a gas pipeline under construction connecting Russia and Germany, undermines the interests of EU countries like Poland and the Baltic states. Mrs. Merkel has refused to cancel it. Regarding China, members of her own cabinet and of the CDU have argued that her plans to give the Chinese firm, Huawei, a role in Germany’s 5G network are too risky. While it is uncertain who will be the next chancellor, views on China across the German political spectrum have taken a more hawkish stance, with the Green party a strong advocate of that position.
Our January speaker for this webinar is eminently qualified to address a changing Germany’s influence. Since January 2020, Jana Puglierin has served as the Head of the Berlin Office and a Senior Policy Fellow for the European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR).
Prior to her current position, she headed the Alfred von Oppenheim Center for European Policy Studies at the German Council on Foreign Relations (DGAP). Before joining DGAP, Puglierin was an advisor on disarmament, arms control, and non-proliferation at the German Bundestag (similar to the U.S. House of Representatives).
Puglierin earned master’s and doctoral degrees in Political Science, International and European law, and Sociology from the Friedrich-Wilhelms University of Bonn. In 2015, she was selected to attend the International Visitor Leadership Program offered by the U.S. Department of State.
*We urge all 2020-21 CCFR members to register your attendance for this Zoom meeting on the CCFR website by 12 noon on January 10. Registered attendees will receive a reminder email with a link and instructions to join the Zoom meeting. If you do not receive the reminder email by the end of the day on January 11, email: reservations@ccfrcville.org or call Molly Fulton at 434-760-2937.