Freie Wähler on foreign affairs and defence

The Free Voters want the international community, led by the United Nations, to secure protection zones in crisis regions. Refugees would find safety and basic supplies there and would not have to flee onward to Europe. The zones are to be built up with development aid and protected militarily if necessary.

The Free Voters want safe areas in crisis countries. The United Nations should lead these areas. People who flee should find protection there. Schools, clinics and factories should be built there. Soldiers should protect the areas, including German ones.

The zones are not meant to be mere camps but to gain infrastructure, towns with schools and hospitals, as well as factories and trade. German development aid is to go there as a priority. The borders of these areas are to be secured under a UN mandate, including by German and other Western combat troops. The platform argues this spares people the life-threatening journey to Europe.

The Free Voters want to keep supporting Ukraine, including with the most modern weapons technology, while preventing a direct war with Russia. Europe is to draw up diplomatic proposals for a peace plan. Europe should show strength toward Russia until it recognizes the sovereignty of all European states.

Russia attacked Ukraine. The Free Voters want to keep helping Ukraine. That includes modern weapons. They want to prevent a direct war with Russia. Europe should propose a plan for peace. Europe should act strong toward Russia.

The platform calls the Russian attack a violation of international law and considers appeasement of aggressive dictators wrong. The EU is to honor the security guarantees of the Budapest Memorandum. Even if not all territories can be liberated, Ukraine is to be integrated into NATO and the EU. A peace plan is to be worked out between Ukraine and its supporters and, if possible, also cover the conflicts around Moldova and Georgia. The platform sees Russia as currently the biggest source of insecurity in Europe but says it should be able to become part of Europe again.

The Free Voters want to permanently institutionalize coordination with France and build joint military structures in Europe. The United Kingdom is to receive a new European perspective, without special concessions. The relationship with the US and Canada is to be cultivated more strongly again as a special partnership.

Germany should work closely with France. Both countries should build shared military structures in Europe. There should be a new, fair partnership with the United Kingdom. The friendship with the US and Canada should also grow stronger.

Franco-German cooperation is to go beyond visits and friendship meetings and also cover domestically contentious issues. The focus is to be on joint military structures and a reshaping of the EU that preserves national rights and culture. For the UK, relations are to be renegotiated at a high level as part of a renewal of the EU. The platform bases the tie to the US on shared history, liberation from National Socialism and similar values; it is to rest more on mutual respect in the future.

The Free Voters regard Israel's existence and security as a fixed part of German foreign policy and want to support the country at every level. They justify this with a special German responsibility. The platform considers the recognition of a State of Palestine by some EU countries wrong.

The Free Voters stand firmly with Israel. Israel should be safe and continue to exist. Germany should help Israel in all areas. The party says Germany has a special responsibility here. Some EU countries have recognized Palestine as a state. The party thinks that is wrong.

The platform describes Israel as the only democracy and the only state under the rule of law in the Middle East. It derives the responsibility from the fact that many inhabitants descend from people expelled from European countries. The conflicting foreign policies of EU member states on this issue are to end. It criticizes the recognition of Palestine by Belgium, Ireland, Slovenia and Spain.

The Free Voters want to rethink Middle East policy and no longer treat the two-state solution as a fixed premise. They regard Iran as a financier of terrorism that must be kept in check. At the same time, Germany should provide more humanitarian aid for Gaza, coordinated with Israel.

The Free Voters want to rethink policy on the Middle East. The two-state solution should no longer be a fixed rule. That is the idea of one state for Israel and one for the Palestinians. Iran should not get nuclear weapons. Germany should give more help to people in Gaza.

The platform calls for reviewing long-held assumptions of Middle East policy in light of the escalation in the region. Terrorists should have no political role there, and all justifiable means should be used against a nuclear-armed Iran. Israel should not be asked to rule out all harm to bystanders in wartime. Aid for people in Gaza should go well beyond what has been provided so far. Western states should handle deliveries themselves in close coordination with Israel, because the platform says Israel no longer trusts the UN bodies on the ground.

The Free Voters see China as an important trading partner but increasingly as a political and economic rival. They want to limit economic dependence and better protect national security and key technologies from Chinese influence. On Taiwan, they call for a peaceful solution through talks.

China is an important trading partner. But the Free Voters also see China as a rival. Germany should not depend too much on China. Important technology should be better protected. China should not threaten Taiwan with force.

The platform points to China's growing economic and military power and its global reach. Germany should avoid becoming too dependent in foreign trade and supply chains. China and Taiwan should resolve their conflict through dialogue; the party rejects force and threats. Until both sides agree, the existing situation should hold, and the will of the people of Taiwan should be respected.

The Free Voters want to tie India lastingly to the West through an economic and possibly military partnership. Cooperation with regional alliances on other continents should be deepened, partly as a counterweight to the BRICS states. The party wants to secure access to raw materials in partnership with the countries of origin.

The Free Voters want to bind India more closely to the West. There should be an economic partnership. Maybe a military one too. Germany should work more with alliances in Africa, Asia and Latin America. The party wants to secure raw materials fairly with supplier countries.

According to the platform, India currently cooperates with Russia and China as well as with Europe and the United States. The partnership should include the EU states and the Americas. The party is critical of the BRICS group because it sees it as lending weight to autocratic governments; it wants to counter this with more cooperation with alliances in Africa, Asia, Latin America and Oceania. For rare earths, industrial minerals and fossil energy resources, the platform relies on partnerships, but gives priority to recycling and alternatives to fossil fuels. The Arctic and Antarctic should remain untouched protected areas.

The Free Voters want to overhaul development policy: current practice should give way to interest-based programs for economic and educational cooperation. Strategic rivals and corrupt governments should no longer receive money. At the same time, Germany should permanently meet the 0.7 percent target, because the party says the funds help prevent flight and radicalization.

The Free Voters want to change development aid. Rivals of the EU should get no more money. Corrupt governments should get none either. Aid should also serve Germany's interests. Germany should keep giving 0.7 percent of its economic output.

As an example of rivals that should no longer receive taxpayer money, the platform names the BRICS states. EU countries should coordinate their priorities, and Germany should focus on selected regions. The party also seeks more funding at EU level. UN aid agencies such as UNHCR should get reliable EU funding, with the aim of a dedicated budget at the United Nations. Aid on the ground should include education as well as basic supplies. In addition, town-twinning partnerships should receive more money.

The Free Voters commit to NATO's two percent target and want to exceed it temporarily. The special fund for the Bundeswehr should be doubled and funding raised to three percent of economic output until the armed forces are capable of defense again. Defenses against attacks in cyberspace should also be strengthened.

The Free Voters want more money for the Bundeswehr, Germany's armed forces. The special fund for the Bundeswehr should double. For some years, Germany should spend 3 percent of its economic output on the armed forces. The Bundeswehr should also get better at stopping attacks over the internet.

The platform argues that after long years of cuts the Bundeswehr is not up to today's challenges. The party calls the existing special fund a correct but insufficient start. The increase to three percent should apply until the necessary defense capability is restored. In view of hybrid warfare, the party wants more support for the cyber and information domain and to build capabilities for a defense emergency.

The Free Voters consider the Bundeswehr's procurement system dysfunctional and want to reform it. Arms projects and procurement should move to the European level to cut costs and ensure technological independence. Within NATO, Europe should cooperate more closely and take on a stronger role.

The Bundeswehr buys its equipment too slowly. The Free Voters want to change that. European countries should develop and buy weapons together. That should save money. Europe should become stronger inside NATO.

According to the platform, allocated funds go unspent because of flaws in procurement. Equipment development should move back closer to the troops so that projects become faster and cheaper. Joint European projects should save money through larger production runs and reduce the number of different weapons systems. To that end, the EU's Permanent Structured Cooperation should be deepened quickly. European cooperation should complement NATO rather than duplicate it, and should fill the gap if the United States withdraws troops from Europe.

The Free Voters want Bundeswehr deployments tied to clear goals, timelines and ongoing review. They should serve only to keep or restore peace. Germany should no longer back UN programs that, in the party's view, benefit terrorism.

The Bundeswehr should only go on missions for peace. Every mission needs clear goals and a timeline. Politicians should check the missions again and again. The Free Voters say some UN programs help terrorists. Germany should stop paying for those.

Under the platform, deployments must comply with the Basic Law and international law. As examples of failed UN missions, the party cites UNIFIL in Lebanon, which it says did not prevent Hezbollah from rearming, and the relief agency UNRWA in the Gaza Strip. As a donor country, Germany should push for consequences at the United Nations. If that fails, it should withdraw from the programs concerned.

The Free Voters want to make Bundeswehr service more attractive through modern equipment, good working conditions and stronger public backing. Soldiers and veterans with psychological injuries should get help faster. The party rejects raising the special retirement age for soldiers.

Soldiers should get good, modern equipment. Working for the Bundeswehr should become more attractive. Soldiers with mental wounds should get help quickly. They should be free to choose their therapist. Soldiers should not have to retire later.

Those affected should be free to choose their psychologists and therapists. The platform justifies rejecting a higher age limit by pointing to the physical and mental demands of the job and the aim of keeping the force from aging. The party supports public swearing-in ceremonies and visits by youth officers to schools and trade fairs to attract recruits. Reservists should get more support, and the paperwork around reserve exercises should be reduced.

The Free Voters call for a year of service for everyone, to be completed by women and men alike. Participants should be able to choose between the Bundeswehr, disaster relief, the fire service, other emergency organizations and social institutions. The party cites social cohesion and the armed forces' greater need for personnel.

The Free Voters want a year of service for everyone. Women and men should work for the community for one year. They can choose where they serve. For example in the Bundeswehr, the fire service or social care.

In the party's view, suspending conscription meant losing something that held society together. The changed security situation also requires adapted military structures and more qualified recruits. The options are service in the armed forces, disaster relief, the fire service and other emergency organizations, or the social sector.