Boris Pistorius is trying to communicate clearly in the USA. The Defense Minister’s urgent message: After decades of military restraint, Germany is ready to lead.
On Liberation Day, Boris Pistorius stands on a hill and looks out over the American capital. More than 8,000 fallen American soldiers from World War II are buried here at Arlington National Cemetery, just above Washington. Around 80 years ago they gave their lives to defeat Hitler’s Germany. The Federal Minister of Defense lays a wreath at the tomb of an unknown soldier. Pistorius stands reverently in front of the monument, a marble sarcophagus. A US soldier plays the well-known solemn mourning tune “Taps” on the trumpet.
This ceremony on May 8th is important to Boris Pistorius. The defense minister came to Washington because he wants to show the American public that Germany is grateful. From Pistorius’ point of view, the USA, as his many appointments and appearances these days show, has already made historic advances several times for the good of Germany. Americans continued to protect the Federal Republic from the Soviet Union later in the Cold War, from the establishment of the airlift for West Berlin to reunification.
But now the time has come when Germany itself should take responsibility. Towards the Americans, but also towards those allies and partners who are now threatened in the East. These include Poland, the Baltic states and also Ukraine. Boris Pistorius wants to show that Germany is no longer just grateful and can benefit from a decades-long peace dividend.
Pistorius can now report enforcement
He made this clear to his American colleague, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, during his visit last year. “Germany was once the eastern flank” of NATO, Pistorius said back in June 2023. During the Cold War, there was always no question for him that the USA and the other allies guaranteed security and freedom. Germany now has a special historical responsibility for the “new eastern flank”, i.e. the Baltic states and Poland.
This year, Pistorius can report enforcement on his trip to the USA. Germany is getting serious and is sending 4,800 soldiers to the Baltic States for the long term as the Lithuania Brigade. And Lloyd Austin expressly thanks you for that. “Germany’s plan for a permanent brigade in Lithuania is a historic commitment that will strengthen European security,” he says. “And we commend Germany for fulfilling our shared NATO commitment to spend at least two percent of its GDP on defense this year. Germany remains one of our strongest and most reliable allies,” said Austin.
As the two defense ministers stand next to each other at the guard of honor in front of the Pentagon, Pistorius exudes a certain self-confidence that he can no longer just announce, but also deliver. When the German national anthem plays, he sings along. On his last visit in June 2023, he was still listening to the sounds in silence.
Leadership instead of mistakes
In front of hundreds of listeners at Johns Hopkins University, Pistorius then said in a kind of defense policy keynote speech: “That’s why we’re working intensively on strengthening the European pillar within NATO and we’re ready to take the lead.” As evidence of this, he no longer just cites the minimum target of two percent of defense spending, measured as a percentage of gross domestic product. He calls the suspension of compulsory military service “a mistake.” Times have changed, said Pistorius. “I am convinced that Germany needs some kind of compulsory military service.” It’s the next big project he wants to tackle.
