Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann: Has war in Ukraine led to a rethink in Germany?
The Interview
BBC
4.3 • 537 Ratings
🗓️ 3 May 2023
⏱️ 24 minutes
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Summary
Stephen Sackur is in Berlin to talk to the influential chair of the German parliament's defence committee, Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann. Has Russia’s invasion of Ukraine really led to a fundamental strategic rethink in Berlin?
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | 15 years ago, 23-year-old Norwegian student Martina Vic Magnuson was killed in an apartment near Mayfair. |
| 0:08.2 | 23-year-old Martinevic Magnuson was found partially buried in the basement. |
| 0:12.3 | Before being questioned, the only suspect in the case had fled the UK to Yemen. |
| 0:17.2 | I made a promise to Martina's family to find out what happened. |
| 0:23.0 | Murder in Mayfair, part of the documentary, find it wherever you get your BBC podcasts. Welcome to Hard Talk on the BBC World |
| 0:30.9 | Service. I'm Stephen Sacker. And today I'm in Berlin. My guest is German MP, Mary Agnes Strach Zimmerman, an influential voice in a debate |
| 0:41.2 | which has dominated German politics in the 14 months since Vladimir Putin launched an all-out invasion |
| 0:48.4 | of Ukraine. Namely, is Germany ready to upend its long-established foreign and security policy built around a |
| 0:56.9 | suspicion of militarism and a business-first pragmatism in favour of a beefed-up military and a more |
| 1:04.9 | muscular defence of German and European values? It is a question which Chancellor Olaf Schultz answered in the affirmative |
| 1:13.4 | in the immediate aftermath of Russia's assault on Ukraine. He called it a turning point or |
| 1:18.9 | Zaytenvender. But more than a year later, what has really changed? Well, for a start, |
| 1:25.5 | significant German military assets, including leopard battle tanks, have been sent to Kiev, but not without significant criticism of German foot-dragging and delay. |
| 1:36.7 | And Germany has promised a massive investment in re-equipping its own army. |
| 1:43.1 | Mary Agnes Strak Zimmerman chairs the Parliamentary Defence Committee. |
| 1:47.2 | She's at the heart of Germany's strategic debate, and she joins me now. Welcome to Hard Talk. |
| 1:54.4 | Thank you very much for the invitation. Well, it's a pleasure to be here. Let's start with that |
| 1:58.5 | word that Olaf Schultz used right after Putin's invasion of Ukraine, Zaitinvender. |
| 2:04.5 | He promised it would be that word, a turning point for Germany and its strategic thinking. |
| 2:11.4 | More than a year later, do we see real evidence of that turning point, that Zayten vendor? Yes, definitely we see it. It's a really |
| 2:23.5 | important word, but it's of course not only a word. First of all, we have now the 100 billion |
| 2:29.5 | euro for the Bundeswehr. This is really important. More money for our army. |
... |
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