Statement by the Defence Minister on the National Security Strategy

In reference to the future National Security Strategy, Defence Minister Christine Lambrecht underlined the importance of being able and willing to defend freedom and democracy in the margins of the closed government meeting at Schloss Meseberg on 30 August.

It is essential that we take a comprehensive approach to this National Security Strategy, a whole-of-government approach and a multi-level approach. This is a key aspect that we will take into account. We realise now that Russia’s brutal war of aggression against Ukraine has wider implications for our security. We see our energy security being attacked, and we see other regions of the world fear for their food security. All of this shows us that we must take a whole-of-government approach both in theory and in practice.

It also shows us that we must be prepared to stand up for our security and for our values – for democracy – with military means, to defend them and to create the conditions to make this possible. That will be another important aspect of this National Security Strategy. We must be equipped for this.

More importantly, we must coordinate with our European partners. This will be one of our priorities. We are currently experiencing the difficulty of ensuring interoperability when so many partners use different systems – especially when it comes to weapon systems that are not interoperable. The National Security Strategy must also focus on progress in this regard.

This is the only way that we can ensure what this war, this aggression has sadly brought back to the forefront of our minds: That we must be prepared and equipped to defend and stand up for our security and our freedom and our values. Specifically how we will set all of this out in the Strategy will be the task we must accomplish in the coming weeks.