German Defense Minister’s Syria Plan Comes Under Fire at Home

(Bloomberg) -- The German Defense Minister’s proposal to create an international security zone in Syria has come under fire from within Chancellor Angela Merkel’s ruling coalition.

Under the proposal put forth by Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer, Turkey and Russia would be part of an international military force whose main goal would be to defuse the situation in northern Syria and allow refugees to return there. AKK, who replaced Merkel as leader of the Christian Democrats, said she would discuss her idea with NATO colleagues in Brussels on Thursday and that she has the backing of the chancellor.

But within hours the Social Democrats, Merkel’s junior coalition partner, complained that they weren’t consulted about her plan beforehand. The party’s caucus leader Rolf Muetzenich said that it wasn’t a government proposal but a personal view of the minister and that she needed to learn from the recent episode and integrate herself in the cabinet.

Merkel and several of her party leaders expressed support in principle for the idea of an international security zone in Syria, saying it was time for Germany to take a more pro-active role in the region, according to at least two officials with direct knowledge of the talks. But they also said the plan’s future depended on support within the government and from Germany’s Nato allies.

During a meeting of coalition leaders on Sunday, where Syria was discussed at great length, AKK did not mention her plan, said Alexander Dobrindt, caucus leader of the CDU’s Bavarian sister party, CSU. He had only learned about her “media offensive” that morning, he added.

Foreign Minister Heiko Maas, also a Social Democrat, complained that he was only informed of the proposal by text message.

“I don’t believe much in SMS-Diplomacy. That can quickly turn into SOS-Diplomacy,” he was cited by DPA news agency as saying.

It would be the first time Germany takes the lead in proposing an international peace keeping force that presumably involves its own troops. Germany and its European allies have responded to Turkey’s military incursion into northern Syria this month like “passive onlookers,” Kramp-Karrenbauer had said on Monday, making a “German political initiative for a European effort within NATO sensible.”

To contact the reporters on this story: Arne Delfs in Berlin at adelfs@bloomberg.net;Patrick Donahue in Berlin at pdonahue1@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Ben Sills at bsills@bloomberg.net, Raymond Colitt

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