German Position on the Gulf Crisis.

Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt, Yemen and the Maldives cut their ties with Qatar, accusing the country of backing terrorism, and imposed punitive measures.

From the first moment the German position was the position of wisdom. It has called on all parties to exercise maximum restraint and to respect their obligations under international humanitarian law. Last month and during his visit to Germany, when Saudi Foreign Minister Adil al-Ahmad al-Jubayr tried to promote charges that Qatar supports terror, the German Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel rejected being silent and replied to a question on these charges and said, “we have no decisive information to suggest that Qatar is the soul culprit behind all of this various extremist groups, but the German government  along with other European governments possessed different information about the role of various institutions, groups, and multiple-family households from the Gulf States, including Saudia Arabia, which are involved in supporting  terrorist groups.”

In my opinion, Gabriel’s answer includes different connotations:

First:

The Government of Germany expresses its rejection of the economic, commercial and financial embargo on Qatar. Mr. Gabriel clearly expressed this during the meeting with his Qatari counterpart Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman al-Thani in the northern German town of Wolfenbuettel when he said, “we are convinced that now is the hour of diplomacy, and we must talk to each other; along with our American colleagues but above all our colleagues in the region, we must try to find solutions, especially lifting the sea and air blockades."

Second:

The German position is based on the principle of preventing war. During his press conference, Mr. Gabriel said, “Indeed, we already had an experience with war, which is  bloody and scary, and we have to do  everything possible to prevent a large-scale bloody war from breaking  out. Sigmar earlier made the comments to German newspaper „Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung: “"There is a danger that this dispute could lead to war," Sigmar added that there was still a chance to end the "dramatic" harshness against Qatar by neighbouring countries.

This rejection was allowed and clear message, that says: “we will not be a part of the American decision, who gave the green-light to start the accusations against Qatar, that they allegedly support Islamist extremists.’ This situation reminds us of the German position at the time of the second Iraqi war, when Joschka Fisher, the German Foreign Minister at the time, during a UN Security Council meeting stressed his opposition to the war and described it as illegitimate. He criticized America`s politics toward Iraq and called for diplomatic efforts to resolve the problems with Iraq. In the same context, the Former German Chancellor Schroeder told his Social Democratic Party, “Don't expect Germany to approve a resolution legitimizing war”, So France and Germany at that time also believed any decision using military force should be initiated  by the UN Security Council, only after UN weapons inspectors have reported on their findings”. This also reflects the German position which evolved directly from political and historical experience.

This also reflects the mutual understanding between European countries especially the two main political players; Germany and France who are striving to be independent of the American influence. This Idea of this independence has been strengthened against the unilateral policy of the United States which runs counter to the spirit of the UN Charter, especially after the American invasion of Iraq in 2003. This Vision has become ever more urgent given of the new realities of power in the region and political change in America after Trump was elected, and his complaint that NATO became “obsolete” because it “hasn’t taken care of terror, and that the other European countries would follow in Britain’s footsteps and leave the EU”.

The German chancellor Angela Merkel stepped up her criticism of Donald Trump, and declared that the US and the UK were no longer "reliable partners", and she quoted a 1963 speech by former President John F.Kennedy in Frankfurt, where he told the audience "those who look only to the past or the present are certain to miss the future“.  She also announced: We Europeans need to take our fate into our own hands.

Third:

The German position is also based on the importance of taking into account the economic interests between Germany and Qatar, which is considered a solid economic partner to Germany. The strengthening of economic ties between both countries started 40 years ago. In 2015, bilateral trade was estimated at approximately EUR 2.54 billion. German exports to Qatar were worth around EUR 2.16 in 2001, and German imports from Qatar approximately EUR 388 million. Qatar owns some of the German Intuitions bonds like Deutsch Bank and Volkswagen. On the other hand, Germany has economic investments with Iran especially after the Iranian nuclear agreement with the previous Obama administration. Germany is seeking to maintain its economic power in the region vis-à-vis its Turkish opponent, which attempts to expand its power in the region.

Now Germany became the leader of the European Union and the liberal world, it keeps trying to express its power to make a balance in conflict areas like the Middle East. Decades ago Germany gained experience in the area of conflicts resolution. We still remember the decisive role of Germany in ending the Colombia war, which it seized place in a peace deal between FARC separatists and the Colombian government. Therefore, from the first moment Germany was involved in the current Gulf Crisis to find a solution. Its clear that Germany and its European allies especially France will be able to find a solution for this crisis and will restore the role of Europe in the Middle East after it was left to the USA and Russia. The era of European independence has started.