policy making principle putting business first, not military power well, suddenly it looked like weakness. chancellor olaf scholz promised dramatic change. my guest is state secretary for economic cooperation niels annen. so, has germany got a new strategic vision? niels annen, welcome to hardtalk. thank you. pleasure. well, it s great to be here. let s start with the war in ukraine. i think there s no doubt that putin s invasion of ukraine shocked germany. would it be fair to say it has also destabilised germany? no, i don t think so. but it certainly shocked germany because a lot of our economic model was based on the assumption that we would continue using cheap russian natural gas. and it was also based in a kind of historic, should i say, historic experience that although russia was a competitor and an enemy in the cold war, it was always also, in economic terms, a quite reliable partner. and i think that was somehow, you know, seen as a constant policy. and we did n
my guest is state secretary for economic cooperation niels annen. so, has germany got a new strategic vision? niels annen, welcome to hardtalk. thank you. pleasure. well, it s great to be here. let s start with the war in ukraine. i think there s no doubt that putin s invasion of ukraine shocked germany. would it be fair to say it has also destabilised germany? no, i don t think so. but it certainly shocked germany because a lot of our economic model was based on the assumption that we would continue using cheap russian natural gas. and it was also based in a kind of historic, should i say, historic experience that although russia was a competitor and an enemy in the cold war, it was always also, in economic terms, a quite reliable partner. and i think that was somehow, you know, seen as a constant policy. and we did not really realise that it s not the soviet union any more. it s a brutal dictator and an unpredictable dictator. but what you ve just described is a very big de
about whether it was destabilising germany, and my answer is clearly no. we here in berlin, wejust overcame a very difficult winter. we were able in record time to substitute for russian gas and oil, especially oil. we have been, if you are familiar with german politics and the way decision making is quite a complicated business here, we have been able to build the first lng terminal. so, yes, we have the chancellor s speech about zeitenwende indicating a fundamental shift in many policy fields. ah. germany is a stable and economic prosperous country. well, it s one thing using words, it s another delivering actions. you re absolutely right, olaf scholz, chancellor, he talked about the zeitenwende, the turning point, the major dramatic shift in germany s geopolitical thinking. he talked about it in the days after
given those two elements, germany is still trying to figure out where to go. yeah, but you asked me about whether it was destabilising germany, and my answer is clearly no. we here in berlin, wejust overcame a very difficult winter. we were able in record time to substitute for russian gas and oil, especially oil. we have been, if you are familiar with german politics and the way decision making is quite a complicated business here, we have been able to build the first lng terminal. so, yes, we have the chancellor s speech about zeitenwende indicating a fundamental shift in many policy fields. ah. germany is a stable and economic prosperous country. well, it s one thing using words, it s another delivering actions. you re absolutely right, olaf scholz, chancellor, he talked about the zeitenwende, the turning point, the major
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