For the chancellor, economic cooperation with Russia has not died out forever. A revival would be conceivable after the end of the war, says Scholz, and at the same time prepares the German economy for new sanctions against the Kremlin.
Chancellor Olaf Scholz has pledged German business to further sanctions against Russia, but has also promised the country cooperation after the end of the war against Ukraine. “At the moment, the relationships that we have are being scaled back, scaled back, scaled back. Now we are tightening the sanctions. Everyone needs to know that,” emphasized Scholz in Berlin in the evening before the German Economic Committee on Eastern European Economic Relations. “But a Russia that ends the war … also needs the chance to start economic cooperation again in other times.”
That’s not now, said Scholz. But after the war, Russia will remain the largest country on the European continent. “It is therefore very important that we prepare for this time.” Russia’s President Vladimir Putin not only destroyed many places in Ukraine and many lives for his imperial dreams. “Actually, he is also destroying Russia’s future,” said Scholz. “And that’s what he has to justify to his own country and his own people.”
Scholz again emphasized that he does not expect a development into a bipolar world centered on the USA and China. “The world in the 21st century will not again fall into a few centers of power, let alone two,” he said. Germany must and can position itself more broadly and diversify its contacts. “The world is full of new potential partner countries,” he said. Diversification is not only right for companies from an economic point of view, but also for Germany in terms of security policy. This is exactly what will also be in the national security strategy that the federal government wants to adopt. He pointed out how important the Eastern European countries have become for the German economy, also in comparison to the USA or China.
In a G7 conference with the heads of state and government of the most important western industrialized countries, further aid for Ukraine had previously been discussed. It was agreed that Ukraine would be helped as long as it was necessary in the fight against Russia, emphasized Scholz. The reconstruction of the country, which is constantly being bombed by Russia, is a “human task”. According to Scholz, the G7 agreed on “a platform to coordinate the financial support of all donors”.
