German foreign minister Heiko Maas makes waves

Heiko who?

When the name of Germany’s new foreign minister was announced this month, it left diplomats and foreign affairs analysts scratching their heads. Despite a long career in German politics, Heiko Maas had no previous international experience. His most senior job to date was as minister for justice and consumer protection. Little was known of his views on foreign affairs — or whether he had any at all.

Two weeks, five trips and a diplomatic clash with Russia later, both the style and substance of Mr Maas’s diplomatic approach are starting to become clearer. Most importantly, the minister has been markedly tougher in his rhetoric and approach towards Moscow. On his first day in office, Mr Maas issued a frank warning about Russian “aggression” and chastised Moscow for “defining itself in antagonism to many in the west”. Russia’s stance, he added, “changes the reality of our foreign policy”. 

Words were followed by deeds this week, when Mr Maas announced the expulsion of four Russian diplomats from Berlin over the nerve agent attack in the UK.

“The Russian government has so far not answered any of the open questions and has shown no readiness to play a constructive role in clearing up the attack,” Mr Maas said.

Officials in the foreign ministry have been pleasantly surprised by their new boss, who seems to have lived up to his reputation as a quick and diligent learner who listens to expert advice. Coverage in the German media has been favourable and moved on from an earlier focus on his dapper dress sense (GQ voted him best dressed man in 2016) and his actress girlfriend Natalia Wörner.

In many crucial areas — such as EU policy and Franco-German relations — the 51-year-old Social Democrat has promised continuity. On Russia, however, the change in tone is evident, with Mr Maas emphasising repeatedly the need to defend the rule of law as a guiding principle of foreign policy.

In his first speech, he warned that the “erosion of liberal, rules-based, democratic order that we believe in has gone further than we thought possible five years ago”, adding: “We have to defend things that we took for granted until now.”

The big difference to Sigmar Gabriel is that Maas was very quick to raise the issue of the rule of law — in a diplomatic way, but very determined

His remarks were widely read as a rebuke to Germany’s still-sizeable contingent of Putinversteher — supporters and defenders of Russian president Vladimir Putin — and to policymakers in Berlin pushing for a softer approach towards Moscow. Among them was Sigmar Gabriel, Mr Maas’s popular but erratic predecessor, who repeatedly held out the promise of an end to western sanctions against Russia.

“Maas has obviously decided to distance himself from Gabriel and the Putinversteher in the German parliament,” said Constanze Stelzenmüller, senior fellow at the Brookings Institution in Washington. “He is trying to repair some of the damage inflicted on the credibility of the German position by Gabriel. That is important.”

Omid Nouripour, a member of the German parliament and the foreign affairs spokesman of the opposition Green party, said: “The big difference to Sigmar Gabriel is that Maas was very quick to raise the issue of the rule of law — in a diplomatic way but very determined. And he seems to have understood that the question of Russia is a neuralgic one for the unity of Europe.”

In some ways, Mr Maas’s stance flows naturally from his political past. As minister for justice, he lashed out at the resurgent far-right in Germany, and emerged as one of the most outspoken critics of the Alternative for Germany and similar rightwing populist movements.

Mr Maas also published a book on this last year. One chapter — “The dangerous longing for the strong man” — draws a direct line between the Russian president and the recent rise in support for authoritarian leaders in Europe.

His book offered personal insights as well. Mr Maas was born and raised in Saarlouis, just a few kilometres from the French border, in a part of Germany that has shifted back and forth between the two countries for centuries. His grandmother, he recalled, lived her whole life in the same house on the same street — but changed passports five times.

Like most natives of the Saarland, Mr Maas said he was instinctively committed to both European integration and a strong Franco-German alliance. The book makes clear that Mr Maas’s political views have been shaped by German history. He wrote about a formative trip he made as a young student to Verdun, the site of a first world war battle that claimed the lives of more than 300,000 French and German soldiers (and which later became a symbol of the two countries’ reconciliation). 

Mr Maas also revealed that he went into politics “because of Auschwitz” — a phrase he repeated in his address to foreign ministry staff. On a trip to Israel this week, Mr Maas spoke warmly of the German-Israeli relationship, describing it as a “great gift”. German solidarity with Israel, he said, was “at the centre of our foreign policy system of co-ordinates”.

After a tempestuous phase in the bilateral relationship — Israeli leaders had a rare public falling out with Mr Gabriel last year — Mr Maas’s words signalled a willingness to patch up recent differences.

“Sensible foreign policy is always a blend of a clear system of value co-ordinates on the one hand and the art of the possible of the other. In Germany, foreign policy has all too often simply swung between moralism and opportunism,” said Ms Stelzenmüller. “Maas is trying to show that he has a very clear system of value co-ordinates. On everything else we just have to wait and see.”

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Rule of law’s natural home is the Council of Europe / From Tobias Flessenkemper