Pro-Russian policy paper shocks German government

Written on 11 June 2025.

In a policy paper entitled “Securing peace in Europe through defense capability, arms control and understanding”, a number of prominent Social Democrats are calling for an immediate turnaround in foreign and security policy. The authors call for talks with Russia as an alternative to rearming the Bundeswehr, as planned by Defense Minister Boris Pistorius. They also urge a halt to the deployment of new American medium-range missiles and declare NATO's five percent target to be “irrational”.
. “In Germany and in most European countries, forces have prevailed that are looking for the future primarily in a military confrontation strategy and hundreds of billions of euros for armaments,” the “manifesto” states. “The compulsion for more and more armaments and to prepare for an allegedly imminent war is invoked instead of linking the necessary defense capability with an arms control and disarmament policy in order to achieve common security and mutual peace capability.”

The paper is signed by several dozen prominent Social Democrats, mainly but not exclusively from the left wing. Former parliamentary group leader Rolf Mützenich is among them, as are foreign policy expert Ralf Stegner, former party leader Norbert Walter-Borjans and other members of the Bundestag, elected representatives and former Federal Finance Minister Hans Eichel.

The authors of the paper are harshly critical of the debate being conducted by the governing parties. “Military alarm rhetoric and huge rearmament programmes do not create more security for Germany and Europe, but rather lead to destabilization and to a strengthening of the mutual threat perception between NATO and Russia,” they say.
The Social Democrats are calling for several concrete measures, including a rapprochement with Russia. They say that “the diplomatic efforts of all European states need to be intensified” and that "support for Ukraine's claims under international law must be linked to the legitimate interests of everyone in Europe in security and stability. On this basis, the extraordinarily difficult attempt must be made to re-engage in talks with Russia after the silencing of the weapons."
The authors also criticize the planned massive increase in defence spending. "There is no security policy justification for increasing the defense budget to 3.5 or 5 percent of gross domestic product for years to come. We believe it is irrational to set a percentage of GDP for military spending."

They are also calling for a halt to the stationing of new American medium-range missiles in Germany. "The stationing of long-range, hyper-fast US missile systems in Germany would make our country a prime target." What is needed now is a "gradual return to a relaxation of relations and cooperation with Russia as well as consideration of the needs of the Global South, in particular to combat the common threat posed by climate change".
Foreign policy expert Ralf Stegner, one of the lead authors of the text, told stern magazine that the aim of the outline was also to realign the debate within the party. "The SPD must remain part of the peace movement. At the moment there is uninhibited talk of the next land war and compulsory military service. As social democrats, we must defend ourselves against this form of militarization," he said. "We must not leave this to the populists. They are not for peace - they are for Putin."

Juso (young Social Democrats) leader Philipp Türmer... praised the “manifesto”. “It's good that we're having these debates now, because they have a psychological effect as well as a substantive one,” Türmer told Stern magazine with regard to the discussion about German defense spending.

“If we had actually spent 3.5 percent of GDP exclusively on traditional defence in 2024, that would have been over 150 billion euros,” criticized Türmer. “These are lunar figures that are largely disconnected from reality.”

Print Email