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First official visits by Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock
Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock meets her French counterpart Jean-Yves Le Drian , © Thomas Imo /photothek.de
On the day of her inauguration, Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock will undertake her first official trip abroad to Paris, Brussels and Warsaw.
Before departing for Paris, Brussels and Warsaw, she issued the following statement:
In Paris, Brussels and Warsaw, my first message will be this: our partners in the European Union can depend on the new German Government from day one. Europe plays the pivotal role in our foreign policy. My main goal during these visits is to listen to our closest partners. We will not pursue our ideas and interests over the heads of our neighbours, let alone at their expense.
On Thursday morning (9 December), the Foreign Minister will meet her French counterpart Jean-Yves Le Drian. She will then travel on to Brussels, where several meetings are on her agenda, including with Josep Borrell, the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and Jens Stoltenberg, NATO Secretary General.
The meetings in Brussels are of particular importance to Germany’s new Foreign Minister:
We know that Germany’s overarching interest is in a strong and united Europe. The basis for this is the ability to acknowledge the point of view of others and recognise where they are coming from, particularly where controversial issues are at stake. [...] No crisis poses more of a threat to the future of humanity than the climate crisis. In Germany, we plan to implement the most ambitious industrial transformation for generations. Yet we can only achieve our goals together. That is why I also intend to talk to our European friends about how we can strengthen our climate partnerships with other regions of the world. For the climate crisis does not stop at borders.
Foreign Minister Baerbock will then travel to Warsaw on Friday morning (10 December), where she will hold talks with her Polish counterpart Zbigniew Rau. After laying a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, Foreign Minister Baerbock will meet Ombudsman Marcin Wiącek, Commissioner for Human Rights, before returning to Berlin.
Current European and foreign policy issues will be at the heart of the Foreign Minister’s talks in Paris, Brussels and Warsaw. Her meetings will focus in particular on the European Union’s future, both internally and externally, under the French Presidency of the Council of the EU from January 2022. At the same time, Poland will take over the Chairmanship of the OSCE ‒ the central forum for security, stability and human rights in Europe, including and in particular as regards Russia, Ukraine and Belarus.