Rüdiger Lucassen
Arms Exports
German Bundestag, April 5, 2019, Plenarprotokoll
19/93, pp. 11210-11211
[Rüdiger
Lucassen is an Alternative für Deutschland Bundestag member from the western
German state of Nordrhein-Westphalen. He is a retired army colonel.]
Frau President. Ladies and gentlemen.
Who does not stand up openly for his
convictions, and these clarify and defend, will be pushed into the corner. That
is happening indeed again to the CDU. For that, the preceding speaker from the
CDU has furnished proof. The government actually wants to export but is not in
a position to brake the radical left in its own ranks. When realists do not
stand up for their convictions, submission follows.
The German armaments export regulations are
clear: No deliveries to states waging war. The Saudi Arabians are conducting a
war in Yemen. The balance: Up to at least 6,000 dead; the Saudis alone shall
have lost 3,000 soldiers. That is a war. It thence follows for the AfD: A
complete stop of deliveries, even for systems containing German components.
Kirsten
Tackmann (Linke): That is radical left!
Germany is directed to the export of defense
technology. Despite the immense replacement needs of our own armed forces, the
Bundeswehr can never obtain sufficient numbers of units so as to be able to pay
for the research, development and production of present-day weapons systems.
Kirsten
Tackmann (Linke): So, Europe!
German armaments makers require a reliable
export quota to be able to continue to exist. The AfD wants this quota because
we want a national defense industry, because we desire the domestic maintenance
of key technologies.
Large armaments proposals are too expensive
and technologically demanding for Germany alone to be able to develop and
construct. For armaments, we need international cooperation. The AfD wants this
cooperation. International consortia just so need exports so as to be able to
build the weapons systems of the future. Who does not want that must pay the
difference out of his own pocket. A helicopter or U-boat would cost four or
five times more. What has that to do with the left?
Kirsten
Tackmann (Linke): They perhaps would at least fly!
It does not in any case conform with other
governments. France and Great Britain have again this week made very clear what
they think of German Moralpolitik –
namely nothing.
Who wants international armaments cooperation
must also be willing to sell. The AfD stands for such a principle. The AfD
wants international armaments cooperation. What we however do not want is a
centralized control from Brussels.
The AfD is for the free market in armaments.
That means, states associate with one another to determine their needs in
military capability and then announce them in common. Afterwards must it be
left to the free market to cooperate and make offers. A Brussels bureaucrat
stands in the way of the power and creativity of a free market. On this basis,
we also decisively reject the EU defense fund. This fund is a construct of a
planned economy to the disadvantage of Germany.
Ladies and gentlemen, arms export policy is
not feel-good policy. Arms export policy is Realpolitik
for the defense of our country’s interests and security. Yes, who sells defense
technology undergoes a risk.
Kirsten
Tackmann (Linke): “Risk” is good!
No one can say whether a purchasing country
ten years later will wage war and employ German weapons in this war. In the end
remains the balancing of various interests. For the AfD, the security and
independence of the German people are always the first priority. A domestic
defense technology industry is therefore a basic requirement.
Ladies and gentlemen, Germany and Europe are
losing contact with defense technology. The hostility to all things military in
many parts of the political establishments contributes considerably to that.
That is not moral. It is moral to take earnestly the duty to defend our
citizens, to arm our country against dangers and to secure the future freedom
of the German people.
[Translated by Todd Martin]
