Germany’s Response to the War in Ukraine

Germany’s dramatic change in foreign and defense policy is a direct result of the unprovoked Russian invasion of Ukraine. Berlin quickly imposed sanctions on Russia in conjunction with its EU partners and the United States. It also took bilateral steps such as freezing the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline. Further measures remain on the table as Germany seeks to reduce its dependency on imports of Russian gas, oil, and coal and accelerate its transition to renewable energy sources. Chancellor Olaf Scholz and his coalition government have pledged to establish a €100 billion defense fund and stated that German defense spending will rise to at least 2 percent of GDP (up from 1.53 percent in 2021, according to NATO data).

German actions to implement these commitments will play a crucial role in the Western response to Moscow’s aggression, strengthening NATO’s defense and helping meet the threat Russia poses to European security. Join the ACG and the American Institute for Contemporary German Studies (AICGS) for a hybrid event with Bundestag member Metin Hakverdi (SPD) on Friday, April 1.

Metin Hakverdi joined the Social Democratic Party in 2002 and has been a member of the German Bundestag since 2013. He serves on the Bundestag’s Committee on European Union Affairs and on the Budget Committee. He is the Chairman of the USA/North America Working Group within the SPD Parliamentary Group and a member of the German-American Parliamentary Friendship Group in the German Bundestag. Before being elected to the Bundestag, Mr. Hakverdi was a member of the Parliament of the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg from 2008 to 2013, where he was on the Budget Committee and the Committee of Public Companies and Assets.

Mr. Hakverdi attended high school in Simi Valley, California, in 1985/86 and studied law at the Christian-Albrecht University in Kiel and at Indiana University’s Maurer School of Law. He was a distinguished visitor at the American Institute for Contemporary German Studies in 2019 and a 2020 John F. Kennedy Memorial Policy Fellow at Harvard’s Center for European Studies (CES). He is a member of the Atlantik-Brücke e.V.