Grüne on foreign affairs and defence

The Greens call for a new initiative from the head of government for a strong, united Europe. Ukraine is to receive continued support because, in the platform's view, this also protects Germany itself.

The Greens want a strong Europe. The government should make a new push for it. Germany should keep helping Ukraine. The Greens say this also protects Germany.

The platform sees Russia's war of aggression as a threat to the European peace order and to democracy. It argues that diplomacy can only work if Europe also shows it can act with strength. Germany is to stand by its European neighbors and work with countries worldwide for a rules-based order. The platform calls human rights non-negotiable.

The Greens want to address the causes of displacement through diplomacy, crisis prevention, humanitarian aid and development cooperation. People who leave their homes because of the climate crisis should in the long run receive a protection status under international law.

Many people flee from war, hardship or the effects of the climate crisis. The Greens want to fight the reasons people flee. There should be help in crises and for poor countries. People who flee because of the climate should later get a right to protection.

The platform lists forward-looking diplomacy, crisis prevention, adequately funded humanitarian aid, development cooperation, reconstruction and fair trade terms as tools. Other countries are expected to take responsibility as well. The party sees Western industrialized countries, as the main historical emitters of greenhouse gases, as having a special duty, and says new large emitters must contribute too. Measures on climate adaptation and climate-related displacement are to be agreed with affected countries.

The Greens want to keep supporting Ukraine diplomatically, financially, with humanitarian aid and militarily. The country should be able to defend itself and negotiate from a strong position in any peace process. The platform also sees this as the best protection for Germany.

Russia is waging war on Ukraine. The Greens want to keep helping Ukraine. This includes money, aid supplies and weapons. Ukraine should also be able to join the EU and NATO.

Peace efforts by Ukraine and its partners are backed, on the principle that nothing is decided about Ukraine without Ukraine. The Greens affirm the free choice of alliances and support the country's path into the EU and NATO. Germany is to help with reconstruction, for example heating supply, schools and hospitals. The platform places this within a concept of integrated security that combines diplomacy, defense capability and reliable funding.

The Greens want to support Ukraine until its people can live in peace again. Sanctions against Russia are to be expanded, for example to the nuclear industry. In the platform's view, shifting borders by force must not succeed.

The Greens want to keep helping Ukraine. Russia should not win the war. The penalties against Russia should get tougher. They should also cover the nuclear industry.

The platform calls Putin's Russia the greatest current threat to peace and security in Europe. Economic and security measures are meant to prevent a Russian victory and raise economic pressure. The EU and its member states are to act firmly against sanctions violations. The party wants to examine whether the frozen Russian assets themselves, not just their proceeds, can be used for Ukraine in a legally sound way. It wants to support democratic forces in Russia and the Belarusian democracy movement.

The Greens want to remain a reliable ally of the United States while strengthening European sovereignty. They also want to expand cooperation with countries in Asia, Africa, Latin America and the Middle East. The party hopes to win allies for human rights, climate action and reform of international organizations.

The Greens want to stay a firm partner of the US. But Europe should also grow stronger on its own. Germany should work more with countries in Asia, Africa and Latin America. The party wants to find new partners for climate action and human rights.

The platform calls the US Europe's central partner in global crises, despite uncertainty about its future course. Political differences are to be addressed openly. Partnerships with the Global South are to rest on trust, transparency and shared interests. They are also meant to help in the contest with authoritarian regimes.

The Greens want to implement and further develop the federal government's China strategy together with European partners. One-sided dependencies on China are to shrink and trade relations are to be diversified. This is meant to secure economic stability and political freedom of action.

Germany should depend less on China. So Germany should trade with more countries. The Greens also want to work more closely with Taiwan. Taiwan is a democracy in Asia.

The platform sees China as rival, competitor and partner at once, with the rivalry growing. Cooperation with Indo-Pacific states is to grow in security, trade, climate, science and technology. Within the One China policy, the party wants to deepen exchange with Taiwan. The status quo in the Taiwan Strait must not be changed against Taiwan's will.

The Greens call Israel's right to exist non-negotiable and back a negotiated two-state solution. Arms exports to Israel are to be withheld in individual cases if the protection of civilians is not sufficiently respected. The Gaza ceasefire is to be fully implemented.

The Greens stand by Israel. Israel may defend itself. But there should also be a state for the Palestinians. Germany should only send weapons if civilians are protected enough.

According to the platform, Israel has the right to defend itself within international law, for instance against Hamas and Iranian missiles. At the same time the Greens condemn settlement building, annexation plans and settler violence. International humanitarian law is to apply to every arms export decision. In Lebanon, the party wants UN Security Council Resolution 1701 implemented and the country stabilized.

After the fall of the Assad regime, the Greens want to support Syria with humanitarian aid, reconstruction and the easing of EU economic sanctions. The party rejects quick returns of Syrian refugees because the country's direction is still unclear. Those who want to help rebuild should not lose their residence permit by doing so.

The Greens want to help Syria make a new start. Germany should send aid and support rebuilding. Refugees from Syria should not have to go back quickly now. The situation in the country is still unsafe.

The political transition is to be peaceful and democratic and include all groups, among them Kurds, Yazidis, Druze, Alawites and Christians. The platform expects neighboring states to respect Syria's sovereignty and territorial integrity. War crimes are to be prosecuted, including in German courts under universal jurisdiction. Bureaucratic hurdles for Syrians in Germany who want to help rebuild are to be lowered.

The Greens want to keep adjusting sanctions against those responsible in the Iranian regime and monitor compliance. The Revolutionary Guards are to be listed as a terrorist organization at EU level in a legally sound way. At the same time the party relies on diplomacy to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons.

The Greens want penalties against the rulers of Iran. The penalties should not hit ordinary people. The EU should class the Revolutionary Guards as a terror group. Iran should not get nuclear weapons.

The platform accuses the regime of serious human rights violations and of destabilizing the region through Hezbollah, Hamas and the Houthis. Sanctions are to hit the power apparatus, not the population. Iranian civil society is to receive support. Diplomatic efforts are to free political prisoners, drawing lessons from the negotiations over the Vienna nuclear deal.

The Greens want to detect crises and conflicts earlier and better coordinate foreign, security and development policy. A center for strategic foresight is to be set up to develop future scenarios. It would build on a shared situation picture and situation center across all ministries.

The Greens want to spot crises earlier. For this, there should be a new center. Experts there think about what could happen in the future. The ministries should work together better.

The center is to pool expertise from many fields and derive options for action from scenarios. A cross-ministry situation picture is to capture threats, risks and opportunities for security. Citizens are to be able to contribute ideas through modern forms of participation.

The Greens want to reform the UN, including the Security Council, where world regions are to be represented more fairly. Germany and the EU are to step up their UN engagement diplomatically, financially and in personnel. Humanitarian aid is to be awarded more flexibly and over several years.

The Greens want to change the United Nations. All parts of the world should be represented more fairly in the Security Council. Germany should do more there and give more money. Aid for people in need should be easier to plan.

The basis is the UN Pact for the Future, whose agreements are to be implemented. When the Security Council is blocked, the General Assembly should be able to act through the "Uniting for Peace" and "Veto Initiative" resolutions. Humanitarian aid is to be linked more closely with development policy, and local aid organizations strengthened. In Sudan, the party relies on negotiations, humanitarian access and curbing outside support for the warring parties. It also advocates internationally for an open, self-governed internet and responsible use of AI.

The Greens want to strengthen international criminal justice and stand behind the International Criminal Court. The crime of aggression, meaning waging a war of aggression, should become easier to prosecute. To that end, the court's statute is to be reformed.

The Greens support the International Criminal Court. This court punishes grave crimes such as war crimes. It should also be able to punish wars of aggression better. For this, the court's rules should be changed.

The platform derives a special duty to protect international law from Germany's responsibility for Nazi crimes and the colonial era. The gravest human rights violations are to be prosecuted. The party wants to coordinate the reform of the statute closely with international partners.

The Greens want to support civil society organizations worldwide that stand up for free speech and the rule of law. Persecuted human rights defenders, journalists, artists and scholars are to get protection programs. Those most at risk should be able to come to Germany through humanitarian visas and faster procedures.

In many countries, people who stand up for human rights are persecuted. The Greens want to help these people. There should be protection programs at home or abroad. People in great danger should quickly get a visa for Germany.

The platform sees people working for democracy, women's rights and human rights under growing pressure from authoritarian regimes worldwide. Support for organizations is to be targeted and uncomplicated. Protection programs are to work locally or, if necessary, in exile, and include students. In the party's view, standing up for human rights also strengthens security, freedom and prosperity in Germany.

The Greens want to continue the process of reconciliation with former German colonies such as Namibia, including symbolic and material reparations. They also want to strengthen the intermediary organizations of Germany's foreign cultural and education policy, arguing that culture fosters understanding in times of crisis.

Germany once had colonies, for example Namibia. Germany committed crimes there. The Greens want to keep working on reconciliation with these countries. Germany should make amends. Cultural exchange with other countries should also grow.

The reconciliation process with former colonies is to continue with the involvement of the victims' descendants. Reparations are to be both symbolic and material and are to take place within the framework of international law. The program also stresses a lasting responsibility toward the countries and people who suffered under Nazi crimes. International research cooperation is to be expanded, guided by interests and values.

The Greens want to pursue a feminist foreign and development policy that strengthens the rights, resources and representation of women, girls and marginalized groups worldwide. The program argues that equality makes societies more peaceful, fairer and economically more successful.

The Greens want to strengthen women and girls around the world. This should be a goal of German foreign policy. Germany should do more against violence toward women. Women's groups should get more money. Queer people should also be better protected.

Efforts against sexual and gender-based violence are to be stepped up and survivors better supported. Implementation of the Istanbul Convention, a treaty against violence toward women, is to be advanced worldwide, as is the protection of queer people. Gender justice is to be anchored more firmly in all international cooperation projects, and women's and human rights organizations are to receive more funding. The program pledges support for the protest movement in Iran.

The Greens want to spend significantly more than two percent of economic output on security and defense on a permanent basis, financed in part by higher borrowing. Germany and Europe are to take on more responsibility for their own security regardless of US policy and strengthen NATO's European pillar.

The Greens want to spend more money on defense. It should be clearly more than 2 percent of economic output. The state should be allowed to borrow more for this. Europe should protect itself more. EU countries should work closely together on this.

The program commits to alliance obligations and to building up military capabilities, which it considers urgent given the security situation and existing gaps. The budget is to reliably cover NATO targets and nationally defined needs. Because current revenues are said to be insufficient, more borrowing is planned in the medium term so that other future-oriented investments do not suffer. At EU level there is to be a joint financial effort as proposed by the European Commission.

The Greens want to advance disarmament and arms control, strengthen the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and secure an international ban on fully autonomous lethal weapons. At the same time, the program calls NATO nuclear sharing an essential pillar of security in light of Russian threats. Globally, the party relies on civilian crisis prevention.

The Greens want fewer weapons in the world. The goal is a world without nuclear weapons. As long as Russia makes threats, Germany should stay part of NATO's nuclear protection. Weapons that decide over life and death with no human involved should be banned. Conflicts should be solved early and without the military where possible.

The program views Germany's observer role at the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons as a first step toward eventual joint accession. New rules are to be created for autonomous weapons, cyber and space, and military use of AI is to be regulated internationally. Existing international treaties are to be upheld and humanitarian arms control developed further. For civilian conflict management, the EU, UN, OSCE, African Union and civil society actors are to be strengthened. Embassies are to receive more diplomatic staff.

The Greens want to equip the Bundeswehr with modern gear with the help of a capable European defense industry. EU states are to develop, produce and buy armaments together rather than maintain parallel structures.

EU countries should develop and buy weapons and equipment together. Today each country does much of this alone. The Greens think this costs too much. Europe should be able to make more of its own arms. This should make Europe more independent.

European production capacity is to be expanded to strengthen technological sovereignty. The program envisions financial incentives and joint investments for this. National industrial policy interests are to take a back seat to shared security. Given the threat situation, the program considers it necessary for Germany and its allies to invest more in security.

The Greens want to enshrine criteria for arms exports more firmly in law in Germany and Europe. Exports are meant to protect partners but must not lead to German or European weapons being used to violate human rights or prop up authoritarian regimes.

The Greens want strict rules for selling weapons abroad. The rules should be written into a law. Weapons should not go to dictatorships. The state should check where the weapons end up.

The criteria are to be clear and transparent and based on human rights, values and security interests. The plan includes risk analyses before approval, sanctions that can be enforced in court and end-use checks. The program links a European arms market with a restrained common export policy. Every individual decision is to comply with national and international law.

The Greens want Germany to spend at least 0.7 percent of its gross national income on development cooperation, with 0.2 percent going to the least developed countries. Development policy is to remain independent and, as the program describes it, feminist, inclusive and decolonial.

Germany should keep helping poor countries. Germany should spend at least 0.7 percent of its income on this. Part of it should go to the poorest countries. Countries with heavy debts should have debts canceled. Germany should also help build health systems.

On top of the 0.7 percent quota, there is to be additional money for international climate and biodiversity protection. German development banks are to gain easier access to capital through a higher federal guarantee framework, and private money is to be mobilized as well. Heavily indebted countries are to get rules-based debt restructuring procedures and debt relief. Countries of the Global South are to be better represented in international organizations. In health, the WHO is to be strengthened, a pandemic agreement advanced, and technology and, where necessary, intellectual property shared.

The Greens want to realize the right to water and food worldwide. Among other things, exports of pesticides that are not permitted in Germany because of environmental and health risks are to end.

All people should have enough water and food. Some pesticides are banned in Germany. The Greens want Germany to stop selling them abroad too. Small farmers should be able to keep their land. No one should bet on water and food on financial markets.

The export ban is to cover both finished pesticides and their active ingredients. Agroecological approaches, meaning farming that follows natural cycles, are to be promoted. The land rights of smallholder farmers are to be protected. The program also backs mechanisms against excessive financial speculation in water, land and food.