Reuters
Berlin
For lawmaker Jan van Aken, little symbolises more potently all that he finds indefensible about Germany’s arms exports than the German and French-made anti-tank missile that he was shown in northern Syria.
From its serial number, he believes the 1970s MILAN rocket was sold legitimately by France to then Syrian leader Hafez al-Assad. After decades in a depot, it fell into the hands of Al Qaeda-linked militants in the uprising against Assad’s son Bashar.
Earlier this year, the German politician examined the waist-high green tube left after the missile was fired at the Kurds.
Van Aken fears the arms that Germany exports today may one day share the same fate. Arms exports rose 24% to €5.85bn in 2013 from 2012 and are increasingly heading to states in volatile areas, such as Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Algeria.
These exports have started to stir public distaste. Economy minister Sigmar Gabriel pledged last month to restrict them, even if that means sacrificing some of the estimated 80,000 German jobs in arms manufacturing.
“It’s a disgrace that Germany is among the world’s largest weapons exporters,” Gabriel has said.
The debate within Germany mirrors a broader international debate over arms exports that has gained urgency since the downing of a Malaysian passenger aircraft over eastern Ukraine last week. Washington believes the aircraft was brought down by a surface-to-air missile fired from territory held by pro-Russian separatists.
In March Germany suspended the transfer of €5mn worth of defence equipment to Russia because of Moscow’s annexation of Ukraine’s Crimea region. It also stopped the delivery of a combat simultation kit made by Rheinmetall , worth about €100mn.
Germany’s freezing of defence contracts contrasts with France, which for now is pressing ahead with a 1.2bn ($1.6bn) contract to supply Russia with its Mistral warship.
Weapons makers say Germany risks losing jobs and technical know-how and buyers will simply buy elsewhere, leaving the world no safer. They want to know what Gabriel’s “more restrictive” export policy means in practice.
It is an industry, however, with few public friends and supporters, even among the wider business lobby.
“Our total exports are €1,100bn and weapons exports make up only a very small proportion,” said Anton Boerner, head of the German exporters’ association (BGA). “If people stopped buying German cars then we would be worried, but the issue of arms exports doesn’t concern us.”
Since Angela Merkel took office in 2005, Germany has overtaken France to become the world’s third largest arms exporter behind the US and Russia. This is a surprising rise for a country that has traditionally taken a back-seat on global security affairs and where a pacifist ethos is ingrained in many after the horrors of Nazism.
Almost two thirds of Germans oppose arms exports, according to a 2012 poll. Yet just as the cars that Germany produces are coveted the world over for their quality engineering and reliability, so too are German tanks and guns.
Buyers outside of traditional Nato partners have lined up to make purchases, and Germany has increasingly said yes to deals that helped offset dwindling orders from allies.
In early 2013, Berlin raised eyebrows by authorising Krauss-Maffei Wegmann’s (KMW) 2bn euro order from Qatar - 62 tanks for a country of 2mn people which is criticised in the region for backing Islamist rebels in Syria and elsewhere.
Interest from abroad comes at a time when Germany’s own military has scaled back, reducing its arsenal of 4,600 tanks from the Cold War era to just 225 today.
The SIPRI security think-tank in Stockholm says selling arms to ‘partner’ countries in the Middle East or North Africa has been part of Germany’s response to the Islamist terror threat since 2001. Control over the delivery of spare parts also allows Berlin to wield some soft influence later.
Gabriel, whose Social Democrats (SPD) share power with Merkel’s conservatives, blames the surge in sales on Merkel’s previous coalition with the Free Democrats (FDP).
While 38% of arms went to EU and NATO countries or other close allies such as Australia in 2013, 62% went to other states - up from 55% in 2012.
Furthermore, total exports of small arms and light weapons (SALW) - portable arms such as guns, grenade launchers and anti-aircraft guns blamed for 60-90% of deaths in the world’s conflicts - hit a record 135.1mn euros, a rise of 43%, with 40.5mn worth heading to Gulf states.
“There are no countries to which you can safely export weapons, particularly small arms and light weapons,” said van Aken. “You can never be sure into whose hands they will fall, even if you are selling to friends.”
Van Aken’s Left party, which polled 9% in 2013’s federal election, is an outlier on foreign policy, wanting NATO disbanded and Germany to give up its armed forces. However, its opposition to arms exports has found wider public resonance.
As arms are often only produced to order, applications are made years in advance. The most contentious must secure approval from Germany’s nine-member security council, consisting of the chancellor, her chief of staff and the foreign, defence, finance, economy, development, interior and justice ministers.
The council meets in secret and the government says decisions are taken on a case-by-case basis.
Arms industry insiders say Gabriel’s economy ministry, which considers straightforward cases and passes on more complex ones to the security council, is sitting on around 2,000 applications as it begins its new approach. A spokesman declined to comment.
Exports of components such as sights or target locks for weapons systems assembled abroad must undergo the same stringent checks if they are to be sold on to non-NATO or non-EU states.
Airbus is waiting for news on its application to export target-locking devices for armoured patrol vehicles to Belgium. From Belgium they are due to go to Canada, where they will be built into vehicles for US firm General Dynamics and then sent to Saudi Arabia. Germany’s approval process takes account of the final destination.
An Airbus executive, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the problem is not that applications are being refused, but that hardly any decisions are being taken at all. The ministry declined to comment.
Georg Wilhelm Adamowitsch, head of Germany’s Security and Defence Industry association, complained that Berlin had no idea of the consequences its new approach would have on foreign manufacturers that use German parts. The government should at least make sure there is a common Europe-wide stance, he said.
