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“There is a shift in German foreign policy towards the Maghreb”

Interview with Isabelle Werenfels, SWP

Dr. Werenfels is known as one of the foremost experts on Euro-Mediterranean cooperation within Germany. She currently works as a Senior Associate for the “Stiftung für Politische Wissenschaft” (SWP), the most influential German foreign policy think tank, headquartered in Berlin, Germany.

As President Sarkozy and Chancellor Merkel are reviewing options for reviving the EU’s Mediterranean policy within the Union for the Mediterranean (UfM), Dr. Werenfels sheds light for us on how Germany and German people perceive their interest in the Mediterranean.

Download the full interview here

Collected by Frederic Baranger

Research Department, Amadeus Institute

Dr. Werenfels is known as one of the foremost experts on Euro-Mediterranean cooperation within Germany. She currently works as a Senior Associate for the “Stiftung für Politische Wissenschaft” (SWP), the most influential German foreign policy think tank, headquartered in Berlin, Germany.

She also serves as Vice-president of the Foundation Board of the „Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies“ in Geneva. From 2008-2010, she was Co-chair of the Euro-Mediterranean Study Commission (EuroMeSCo).

Her areas of expertise include political-economic transformation and elite change in the Maghreb states, Islamist movements, German and European foreign policy towards the Maghreb, the Euro-Mediterranean Partnership and democracy research.

She also has extensive work experience as a journalist, both in the Middle East and in North Africa.

As President Sarkozy and Chancellor Merkel are reviewing options for reviving the EU’s Mediterranean policy within the Union for the Mediterranean (UfM), Dr. Werenfels sheds light for us on how Germany and German people perceive their interest in the Mediterranean.

Despite its strong trade position, Germany’s political and economic ties with the Maghreb area are not as long withstanding as those of neighbouring France, Spain or Italy. For historical reasons and because of domestic politics Germany has opposed the military interventions in Iraq and Libya.

Despite those elements, it does not want to be marginalized in the EU’s policy towards the Maghreb; Germany retains huge political weight in the decision-making processes for enhanced cooperation between Europe and other Arab countries.

Step by step, Germany is framing its regional foreign policy around strong trade relations and a backing of democratic transformation processes.

Would you say that Germany has a topical voice in the EU’s neighbourhood policy?

Germany has long put more emphasis on normative issues, such as human rights and political reform than Southern European countries, and particularly France. With regard to the Maghreb, those countries have been very quiet on democratic progress, putting the imperative of civil liberties behind commercial and regional stability interests.

As most Scandinavian countries, Germany favoured giving political reform and abidance to the rule of law more weight in Euro-Mediterranean cooperation. The concept of “transformative partnerships”, that is currently guiding the new European policies toward the region, originated in Germany.

How are North African states perceived by the German public opinion?

Basically, two main things have been associated with Northern Africa: Tourism and illegal migration On the one hand, plenty of German tourists have been spending their holidays in Egypt, Tunisia or Morocco. On the other hand, the German public saw the pictures of North-African migrants trying to reach Europe. Recently, the fear of terrorism has also become a factor in how North Africa has been perceived. The perception of backward societies and of threats coming from the region has been fairly wide spread. Germans unfortunately had very little knowledge about the region.

Now, since the beginning of the Arab spring, this image has been changing profoundly. The powerful images of a young, freedom hungry generation, well versed in French and English, connected to the digital world, has opened the eyes of many Germans.  For the first time, North Africans are no longer solely seen as migration seekers, but as people “like us” Protesters massed on Tahrir square were young and well educated. So were the Tunisians on Bourguiba Avenue.

I think the German printed press deserves some credit for this positive evolution; It followed these developments very enthusiastically and explained them to the broader public without, for instance, inflating the role or fear of Islamists. Generally, the reporting made a clear distinction between political Islam, such as represented by the Muslim Brotherhood, and terrorism. This had not always been the case in the past.