National Security Strategy

In their coalition agreement, the government parties have agreed to draw up Germany’s first comprehensive National Security Strategy. This spring, the Federal Foreign Office launched the development process, which is expected to take approximately one year.

In this process, the Federal Government will consult the Bundestag, scientists and think tanks, associations, civil society and non-governmental organisations as well as allies and partners. 

The first National Security Strategy will be comprehensive and based on a broad concept of security. It will also be a capstone document that both references existing documents and informs other strategies. 

Germany’s security depends on a strong North Atlantic Alliance and a united European Union. Both NATO and the EUEuropean Union have adopted new policy documents this year with the Strategic Concept and the Strategic Compass respectively.
 

NATO approved its 2022 Strategic Concept at the summit in Madrid. The last Strategic Concept had been adopted at the Lisbon Summit in 2010. In the intervening years, the world has changed significantly, however. Strategic competition has increased around the globe. Back in 2010, relations with Russia were characterised by dialogue and cooperation. Also, attention focused largely on the mission in Afghanistan. NATO therefore concentrated less on its deterrence task and more on crisis prevention and management and on cooperative security outside Europe.

The 2010 Strategic Concept still stated that there was “peace in the Euro-Atlantic area”. By now, NATO has gradually returned to its core task of collective defence and deterrence and has demonstrated an enormous adaptability in the process.

Following Russia’s illegal attack on Ukraine, cooperation among EUEuropean Union Member States in the area of security and defence has taken on even greater significance. For the first time, the Member States therefore unanimously adopted a strategic document this year, the Strategic Compass. The European Union strives to become stronger as a security player and increase its ability to act. The Strategic Compass is the result of a German initiative during Germany’s Council Presidency in 2020.

Given the current security challenges and based on the seminal policy documents of NATO and the EUEuropean Union, Germany has now launched its own strategy process aimed at creating its own National Security Strategy for the first time.