Germany taking mediator role in Ukrainian upheaval

Germany is seeking to play good cop to America’s bad cop in Western efforts to mediate between the government and protesters in Ukraine in an early test of the German government’s efforts at a more robust foreign policy role.

The Germans have refused to back Washington’s calls for sanctions against Ukraine’s government to pressure it into accepting opposition demands for reforms. At the same time, Germany has launched a flurry of diplomacy toward Kyiv and Moscow – a key ally of Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych – while trying to promote selected Ukrainian opposition leaders as legitimate negotiating partners.

More Related to this Story

On Monday, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and her Foreign Minister held closed-door talks with top Ukrainian opposition leaders Arseniy Yatsenyuk and Vitali Klitschko, speaking with the two for about an hour.

Ms. Merkel assured Mr. Yatsenyuk and Mr. Klitschko that Germany and the EU would do everything possible to try and assure a “positive outcome” to the crisis in Ukraine – support for which the two praised the chancellor at a short news conference after the meeting.

“The chancellor is one of the most influential people in the world,” Mr. Klitschko said through an interpreter. “The backing of Germany and the EU plays a big role in Ukraine.”

Ms. Merkel’s spokesman, Steffen Seibert, said the release of jailed protesters in Ukraine and the handover of occupied buildings in Kyiv on Sunday were signs that the government and opposition can find common ground, despite months of increasingly bloody confrontation.

Berlin’s diplomatic advance has put it at odds with some of its European Union partners, including Sweden and the Baltic countries, which have pressed for a harder line against the former Soviet republic, according to Stefan Meister, a senior research fellow at the German Council on Foreign Relations.

But it fits in with the German government’s recent pledge for a more assertive role on the international stage.

For Germany, Ukraine is a good test case – a large European country, relatively close to German borders undergoing a more difficult transition than other former Soviet states such as Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, which joined the EU years ago.

Germany believes it is in a better position than other Western countries to deal with Russia, which wields enormous influence in Ukraine. Germany also is working in concert with Ukraine’s neighbour Poland, which is deeply concerned about developments in Ukraine but lacks Germany’s political clout.

“German foreign policy is often quite reticent, but Berlin has taken a clear position on Ukraine,” said Mr. Meister. Germany’s greater engagement in Ukraine began with the efforts to secure release – or failing that, medical treatment abroad – for imprisoned former Ukrainian prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko, he said.

Having misjudged Ms. Tymoshenko’s ability to bring about much-needed reform in the former Soviet republic, as well as her support among ordinary Ukrainians, Berlin also is keen to find out more about the two opposition leaders, said Susan Stewart, a senior research associate at the German Institute for International and Security Affairs.

“It’s important for the EU to get a clearer picture of these people because we may well have to deal with them as leaders in Ukraine in the future,” said Ms. Stewart.

Mr. Klitschko is already well known in Germany, where he was based during most of his career as a heavyweight boxer.

While Ukraine is an important transit country for Russian gas supplies to the European Union, Germany’s overriding interest – and that of the EU overall – is stability and reform in its eastern neighbour, while at the same time avoiding a diplomatic rift with Moscow.

In a speech to the parliament last year, Ms. Merkel, who grew up in communist East Germany, noted that “the shadows of the Cold War still exist and it is our task – not least the task of Germany – to contribute to the Cold War being over for everyone, including our eastern partners.”

 

Associated Press

Open all references in tabs: [1 – 6]