Crisi in Crimea: Foreign Minister Steinmeier in Washington

Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier arrived in the US capital Washington on Thursday (27 February), where he had a meeting with his counterpart John Kerry. On Friday he will be meeting the Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Christine Lagarde. Their talks will concentrate on bilateral relations and current international issues. On Friday Germany’s Foreign Minister will also be giving an address on transatlantic relations at the Brookings Institution, a respected US think-tank.

Following his arrival in Washington, D.C. on Thursday morning (local time), Foreign Minister Steinmeier headed straight to the Department of State, where he had lunch with his counterpart, Secretary of State John Kerry. Prior to the meeting, Steinmeier said the fact that he was meeting Kerry for the fourth time in the relatively short period since taking up office showed that there had been much to do in recent weeks and months to tackle the international challenges.

Political and financial stability for Ukraine

These challenges included the current situation in Ukraine. The new Government under Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk had a huge amount of work to do, the Minister said. It had to prove that it was a Government for all Ukrainians and that it was working to bring the country political and financial stability. Steinmeier said he wanted to discuss the latter with the Americans and with the IMF. The German Foreign Minister went on to say:

It is important, above all else, to have the IMF very swiftly send a group of experts to Kyiv to assess the needs of the financial situation. Ms Lagarde has already announced that this will happen, which I am very happy about. I will moreover have the opportunity tomorrow morning to speak to her about the IMF’s readiness to provide emergency assistance.

The two Foreign Ministers quickly got on to the subject of Ukraine at their joint press conference after their intensive talks as well. Kerry thanked Steinmeier for his mediation in Kyiv as part of the Weimar Triangle last week and called on Russia to take a constructive role in stabilising Ukraine. Foreign Minister Steinmeier too emphasised the international community’s shared responsibility for the country:

Ukraine needs breathing space now to attain political and economic stability. That means that the EU, US, IMF and hopefully also Russia must together ensure that Ukraine receives the financial assistance it needs.

Relationship between freedom and security

Transatlantic relations were a key topic in the Ministers’ talks. Kerry stressed that the two men had had a frank and constructive conversation which also touched on the tensions between the two countries following the NSA surveillance affair. Steinmeier pointed out that the US and Germany had differing understandings of the relationship between freedom and security, but at least the debate was no longer being carried out by the media, but directly between Government, academia and civil society in the two countries. He went on to say that it was intended to set up a cyber dialogue that day as a forum for this debate, enabling “differences and similarities in our attitudes to protecting privacy” to be defined.

In an interview with the Spiegel news magazine on 23 February Steinmeier had emphasised that Europeans and Americans had very different ideas about data protection:

In the United States the balance between freedom and security is viewed differently than it is in Europe and especially in Germany. That has a lot to do with the experiences from our history. The rifts are deep, and the work that lies ahead of us should not be underestimated.

Other subjects discussed by Steinmeier and Kerry included the nuclear negotiations with Iran and the conflict in Syria. Following his meeting with Secretary of State Kerry, Foreign Minister Steinmeier met Senator Bob Corker on Thursday afternoon. In the evening there was a dinner in the German Ambassador’s residence with Senator Dianne Feinstein.

Transatlantic relations in the 21st century

Transatlantic ties will be the focus of Steinmeier’s talks on Friday as well. Following talks with IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde about financial support for Ukraine, the German Foreign Minister will give an address at the Brookings Institution. His speech at this respected US think-tank is entitled “Transatlantic Ties for a New Generation: Why They Are Important and What We Need To Do About Them”. It will highlight Germany’s commitment to making transatlantic relations fit for the future and show the way from a value-based dialogue to the practical application of shared values in the 21st century.