For the first time in 16 years, Germany has a government without the Christian Democratic Union. Negotiations between the Social Democratic Party (red), the Free Democratic Party (yellow) and the Greens resulted in the “traffic lights” coalition led by Olaf Scholz, who was sworn in as Chancellor. Scholz handed over the finance portfolio to FDP leader Christian Lindner, while the Greens won important ministries. For the first time, the Foreign Ministry is headed by a woman, Annalena Baerbock, who was the Greens’ candidate for chancellor. Robert Habeck, from the Greens, heads a larger ministry that includes economics, energy and climate issues.
India must seek the continuity and expansion of the ties of the new government. While the SPD has been part of previous coalitions, the current generation of Greens and FDP leaders have had little interaction with India.
The coalition document underscored the need to strengthen the strategic partnership between India and Germany. Germany sees India as an important partner in solving global problems, including climate change, food security, energy, and international peace and security. Merkel’s initiative to establish intergovernmental consultations should therefore continue. India is also included in the calculation of the coalition document due to the fact that the coalition has decided to comply with the Indo-Pacific political guidelines of 2020. In the German Indo-Pacific guidelines, the India is mentioned for building engagement. and the achievement of objectives. India should now be an important node in discussions on issues relating to international security. This is because Germany has an increased awareness of the importance of the Indo-Pacific.
Germany wishes to implement connectivity projects, via the European Union, to counter China. In this, the EU-India connectivity partnership announced at the EU-India Leaders Meeting in May 2021 is recognized. The coalition sees the conclusion of an India-EU BTIA as an important aspect that will help develop the relationship.
Chancellor Scholz met Prime Minister Modi on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Rome while accompanying Merkel. In my meetings with him, he emerged as someone interested in Indian education and skills development policies. He speaks fluent English and is a pleasant person.
The Greens could pursue a more powerful green foreign policy and climate agenda. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs will have three parliamentary state secretaries, all green. There is currently a lot of green content in the Indo-German engagement, including in the areas of solar power, transportation, smart cities, subways, and the Namami Gange. What is needed now is a bold and careful, action-oriented approach. However, if the German Foreign Ministry begins to adopt an aggressive environmentalist role and determines its foreign policy engagement based on how German values and climate issues are viewed by its counterparts, it could ignite relations. India likes to responsibly set its own pace for the implementation of these ideas.
Baerbock recently called on China to disagree with German values. The Chinese Embassy in Berlin has warned against such a position. Germany, if it pursues a policy based on values, will not be able to stop at China. India and Germany are to hold the next intergovernmental consultations. This is a planned summit with senior ministers. The pace at which this is programmed and prepared will indicate whether the promise of the coalition document is bearing fruit.
India has expectations from the ministries of economy and energy as well as transport. The high-speed railway project has been on fire for some time now. Germany can make an important contribution to green rail infrastructure. Education is another area on which Germany would focus its attention.
India and Germany must achieve the cooperation objectives of the intellectual property guidelines. These must involve businesses. German companies should be encouraged to use the liberalized PLI regime to establish manufacturing centers in India, which can export to ASEAN and Africa. The two countries could also launch a vaccine production facility in Africa. Germany has committed 250 million euros in loans to Africa for this. If implemented with India, as in the Quad initiative, such a facility can be established in the underserved region of East Africa.
India and Germany must rethink to engage more closely in areas of complementarity.
The writer is a former ambassador to Germany
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