49th Munich Security Conference

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Opening event of the 49th Munich Security Conference

The 49th Munich Security Conference took place from February 1st to 3rd, 2013. 400 top politicians and managers, senior military officials and academics attended the event. These included more than 90 delegations, a dozen heads of state and government, 70 foreign and defense ministers, ten US senators, five EU commissioners, five federal ministers as well as 60 members of the Bundestag and the same number of board chairmen. Around 700 journalists were accredited for the event.

The conference focused on the European debt crisis , the future of transatlantic relations, the crisis areas of Mali and the Middle East as well as energy security and cyberterrorism .

Opening speech

In his opening speech, Federal Defense Minister Thomas de Maizière emphasized the role of the United States as a guarantor of Europe's security. Europe is “perhaps not the USA's best conceivable partner in the world, but the best possible”, said de Maizière. In his speech he called for better cooperation in defense cooperation within the EU and between the EU and NATO.

European debt crisis

The topics of the opening debate were the euro crisis and the future of the European Union . Federal Finance Minister Wolfgang Schäuble and Deutsche Bank boss Anshu Jain were convinced that the climax of the crisis had been overcome. However, Schäuble warned against reducing rescue efforts and criticized the continued inadequate regulation of the banking sector. Jain described the consequences of demographic change within Europe as a serious brake on growth and called for a liberalization of the labor market and a reform of the pension system. In the debate, the Spanish Foreign Minister José Manuel García-Margallo identified growth and employment as key challenges for the future of Europe. The Lithuanian President Dalia Grybauskaitė spoke out in favor of improving the competitiveness of EU countries.

Transatlantic Relations

US Vice President Joe Biden at the 49th MSC

The future of transatlantic relations was a focus of the second day of the event. In a speech, the American Vice President Joe Biden gave an outlook on the future foreign policy of the recently re-elected US President Barack Obama . The US Vice President explained the importance of Europe; "Europe is the cornerstone of our commitment in the world and a catalyst for global cooperation." For the USA, the Europeans are "the oldest friends and closest allies", continued Biden, who in this context is also emphatically in favor of the creation of a transatlantic free trade area pronounced. He also announced improvements in American relations with Russia . In his speech, Biden emphasized the importance of cooperation between the two states, but also referred to existing differences in human rights, the Syria conflict and the European missile defense system. Biden called on the Syrian head of state, Bashar al-Assad , to resign and demanded intervention by the international community in the country. However, he refused military intervention by his country. The US Vice President offered Iran direct negotiations on its nuclear program.

Syria

Moas al-Khatib , President of the Syrian opposition, at the 2013 conference

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov took a position opposite to Biden on Syria. He declared that his government would continue to support Syria's ruler, Assad, and promised him Russian support in the future. Despite the hardened fronts between the US and Russia on the Syria issue, Lavrov and the head of the Syrian opposition, Moas al-Khatib, unexpectedly met for the first time during the conference . Al-Khatib was invited to Moscow by Lavrov.

Negotiations with Iran

During a debate on the final day of the conference, Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi declared his country's readiness to accept the American offer to negotiate on the Iranian nuclear program, but subject to conditions. In view of earlier dialogue announcements that had no concrete consequences, Salehi's announcement was received with skepticism. In the course of the conference debate, the chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee in the German Bundestag, Ruprecht Polenz , who described Iran as a "wrongdoer in terms of nuclear policy", criticized Iranian politics unexpectedly . At the security conference, the outgoing Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak warned of “nuclear terror” and an end to the nuclear non-proliferation treaty if Iran were to gain possession of the atomic bomb. Barak reiterated his country's determination to prevent Iran from building nuclear weapons.

Cybersecurity

A panel discussion on cybersecurity was accompanied by reports of hacker attacks, the victims of which had been the news service Twitter and major American newspapers. In the course of the debate, Federal Minister of the Interior Hans-Peter Friedrich presented the draft IT security law, which provided operators of critical infrastructures with a reporting obligation in the event of hacker attacks. Friedrich declared cybersecurity to be a crucial issue of the 21st century. The EU commissioner responsible, Neelie Kroes , also advocated mandatory reporting and referred to a future EU directive. The Commissioner stressed the responsibility of each individual user to contribute to Internet security. Telekom boss René Obermann called on the companies concerned to report cyber attacks, as the disclosure of information about security problems would make a significant contribution to their solution. For his company's networks, Obermann reported between 300,000 and 400,000 attacks daily.

other topics

Other topics of the conference included the future of the responsibility to protect , digital diplomacy in the age of social media, European defense policy, and security and stability in Southeastern Europe and the Caucasus.

Web links

Commons : 49th Munich Security Conference  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ zeit.de: Munich Security Conference begins ( Memento from February 3, 2014 in the Internet Archive ), February 1, 2013. Accessed on March 11, 2013
  2. ↑ welt.de: Negotiate or bear the consequences , February 1, 2013. Accessed March 11, 2013
  3. ↑ a b tagesschau.de: De Maizière calls for better cooperation ( memento of February 4, 2013 in the Internet Archive ), February 1, 2013. Accessed on March 11, 2013
  4. ↑ handelsblatt.com: What will be discussed at the security conference, February 1, 2013. Accessed March 11, 2013
  5. ↑ focus.de: Where politicians discuss Iran over fillet of beef , February 2, 2013. Retrieved on March 11, 2013
  6. ↑ welt.de: Records at the Munich Security Conference in February , January 25, 2013. Retrieved on March 21, 2013
  7. ^ Page no longer available , search in web archives: mdr.de: Crises deal with Munich Security Conference , February 1, 2013. Accessed March 11, 2013@1@ 2Template: Dead Link / www.mdr.de
  8. ↑ zeit.de: Topics and participants of the 49th Munich Security Conference , February 1, 2013. Accessed on March 13, 2013
  9. ↑ focus.de: USA indispensable guarantor for the security of Europe , February 1, 2013. Accessed March 22, 2013
  10. ↑ tagesspiegel.de: De Maizière emphasizes the importance of Europe for the USA , February 2, 2013. Accessed March 22, 2013
  11. ↑ bmvg.de: Shoulder to shoulder - in NATO, the EU and the Pacific , February 4, 2013. Accessed on March 22, 2013
  12. ↑ a b handelsblatt.com: Schäuble warns against leaning back in the euro crisis , February 1, 2013. Accessed March 26, 2013
  13. ↑ tagesspiegel.de: Schäuble and Jain warn against leaning back in the euro crisis , February 1, 2013. Accessed on March 26, 2013
  14. ^ A b welt.de: USA and EU force gigantic free trade zone , February 2, 2013. Accessed April 20, 2013
  15. ↑ faz.net: “The international community must assume responsibility for Syria” , February 2, 2013. Accessed April 20, 2013
  16. ↑ a b c cornerstone and catalyst. US Vice President Outlines New Decade of Foreign Policy. dradio.de, February 2, 2013, accessed April 25, 2013 .
  17. ↑ a b Biden calms Europe down. n-tv.de, February 2, 203, accessed April 25, 2013 .
  18. ↑ a b US Vice Biden in Munich: stroking unit for Europe. spiegel.de, February 2, 2013, accessed April 25, 2013 .
  19. ↑ a b "Nuclear negotiations with Iran are possible". handelsblatt.com, February 2, 2013, accessed April 25, 2013 .
  20. ↑ a b c Soft in appearance, tough in business. handelsblatt.com, February 2, 2013, accessed April 25, 2013 .
  21. ↑ a b c Washington offers Iran nuclear talks. nzz.ch, February 2, 2013, accessed April 25, 2013 .
  22. ↑ a b Syria's opposition scores at conference. zeit.de, February 3, 2013, accessed October 6, 2015 .
  23. ↑ Superpowers are blocking themselves on the Syria question. stern.de, February 2, 2013, accessed on May 4, 2013 .
  24. ↑ Signs of Russian Movement in the Syrian Conflict. Foreign Minister Lavrov meets Syrian opposition leader. welt.de, February 2, 2013, accessed May 4, 2013 .
  25. ^ Syria's opposition leader invited to Moscow for talks. welt.de, February 3, 2013, accessed on May 4, 2013 .
  26. ↑ Iran wants to talk to the USA about nuclear plans. tagesspiegel.de, February 3, 2013, accessed May 7, 2013 .
  27. ↑ a b Iran signals readiness for talks with the USA. February 3, 2013, accessed May 7, 2013 .
  28. ↑ a b Polenz calls Iran the wrong-way driver in nuclear policy. sueddeutsche.de, February 3, 2013, accessed on May 7, 2013 .
  29. ↑ "You behave like a nuclear wrongdoer". welt.de, February 3, 2013, accessed on May 7, 2013 .
  30. ↑ Iranian atomic bomb would be over for Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. (No longer available online.) Derstandard.at, February 3, 2013, archived from the original on April 17, 2013 ; Retrieved May 7, 2013 .
  31. ↑ Israel warns of "nuclear terror". dw.de, February 3, 2013, accessed May 7, 2013 .
  32. ↑ a b Cyber ​​attacks in the USA - Twitter hacked. (No longer available online.) Handelsblatt.com, February 3, 2013, archived from the original on February 24, 2016 ; Retrieved May 20, 2013 .
  33. ↑ Cyber ​​attacks in the USA - Twitter hacked. n24.de, February 2, 2013, accessed on May 20, 2013 .
  34. ↑ Munich Security Conference. bmi.bund.de, February 4, 2013, accessed on May 20, 2013 .
  35. ↑ a b EU wants financial companies to report cyber attacks. reuters.com, February 3, 2013, accessed May 20, 2013 .
  36. ↑ a b Cyber ​​attacks are increasing dramatically. n24.de, February 2, 2013, accessed on May 20, 2013 .
  37. ↑ Münchner Sicherheitskonferenz 2013. Auswaertiges-amt.de, February 3, 2013, accessed on June 5, 2013 .
  38. ^ Breakout Session on the Responsibility to Protect during the Munich Security Conference. responsibilitytoprotect.org, February 4, 2013, accessed June 5, 2013 .
  39. ^ Ministers Bildt and Sikorski at the Munich Security Conference. (No longer available online.) Swedenabroad.com, February 4, 2013, archived from the original on February 4, 2014 ; accessed on June 5, 2013 .
  40. ↑ a b Success together or fail individually? (No longer available online.) E-politik.de, February 4, 2013, archived from the original on May 2, 2013 ; Retrieved June 5, 2013 .
  41. ↑ Syria, Mali and a bit of the euro crisis. (No longer available online.) Tagesschau.de, February 1, 2013, archived from the original on February 3, 2013 ; Retrieved June 5, 2013 .
  42. ^ Defense Minister Darabos at the Munich Security Conference. wienerzeitung.at, February 2, 2013, accessed June 5, 2013 .
  43. ^ Munich Conference: Moscow and Washington refrain from swipes. rai.ru, February 4, 2013, accessed June 5, 2013 .