Chancellor Olaf Scholz, suspected of a certain complacency with Moscow, is visiting Washington for the first time on Monday, an opportunity to remove ambiguities about the support of the German ally in the Ukrainian crisis.
The 63-year-old Social Democrat, who replaced Angela Merkel as Chancellery two months ago, will speak with President Joe Biden, in particular about the tense situation in Ukraine.
For Spiegel, the head of the German executive must prepare for a call to order.
“We can safely expect Joe Biden to urge the German Chancellor to be tougher on Moscow. He will again make him understand that the Nordstream 2 gas pipeline is dead if Putin attacks Ukraine, ”estimates the weekly.
Moscow has massed tens of thousands of soldiers for months on the borders of this country, which for Westerners is a sign of a major military operation to come. Russia denies it.
“The Germans have lost their minds”
However, Olaf Scholz has caused trouble in recent weeks by refusing to deliver arms to Ukraine and by maintaining suspense over the fate of the controversial gas pipeline, before agreeing to include it in the list of possible reprisals in the event of a Russian attack.
Germany has long been the main promoter of Nord Stream 2 which increases the capacity to import Russian gas and is considered vital for the energy supply of Europe’s largest economy.
The work, completed but not operational, still has its supporters within the Social Democratic Party but also in the German opposition, and recent contradictory statements from Berlin on Russia have been badly perceived by the American ally.
They provoked both “disappointment and harsh criticism in Washington,” Constance Stelzenmüller of the Brookings Institution think tank told AFP.
“In the United States, the impression that has partly resulted from this is that the Germans have lost their heads,” added the president of the parliamentary defense group, the liberal Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann.
Olaf Scholz “should put things right in Washington and say that Germany is of course a trustworthy partner”, she added.
Delicate situation
The Social Democratic Chancellor, at the head of a complicated coalition with the Greens and the Liberals, recently tried to rectify the situation.
Russia will pay “a very high price” in the event of aggression, he repeated on public television. And he announced his more active involvement in diplomatic efforts to avoid the worst in Ukraine, so far dominated in Europe by Frenchman Emmanuel Macron, whose country holds the rotating presidency of the EU.
After the French head of state, Mr. Scholz will in turn visit Kiev and Moscow in mid-February.
The Ukrainian crisis has placed Germany in a delicate situation. The country relies entirely on the United States for military protection.
And since the end of the Second World War, transatlantic ties have remained a cornerstone of its foreign policy.
Johann Wadephul, expert in international issues at the conservative CDU party, heir to a long Atlanticist tradition, assures AFP that he has received e-mails from Washington which “are very concerned about German foreign policy”.
Germany also maintains, beyond its dependence on gas, close economic ties with Russia, which leads it to be more measured regarding possible sanctions against Russia.
“It is legitimate, because the German economy would pay the price”, underlines Mme Stelzenmuller.
During her 16-year reign, Angela Merkel, who was once described as the “leader of the free world” during the tumultuous mandate of Donald Trump, worked to preserve good relations with the United States, but did not no less defended to the end, tooth and nail, the Nordstream 2 project and the dialogue with Vladimir Putin.
“Good friends can have disagreements”, summed up Joe Biden when he received the Chancellor in July for his last visit to the White House.