Joachim bitterly

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Joachim Bitterlich in May 2012 at the 42nd St. Gallen Symposium

Joachim Bitterlich (born July 10, 1948 in Saarbrücken-Dudenweiler ) is a lawyer and former German diplomat . He was close advisor to Helmut Kohl and head of the department for foreign, development and security policy in the Federal Chancellery . He is a professor at ESCP Europe .

Life

After graduating from high school in 1966, Bitterlich was a contract soldier and reserve officer candidate in the Bundeswehr . After studying law and economics and an additional course at the French École nationale d'administration (ENA), he joined the Foreign Service in 1976 .

For more than eleven years, he worked closely with Federal Chancellor Helmut Kohl , initially on issues relating to European policy, and from 1993 to 1998 as head of the department for foreign, development and security policy in the Federal Chancellery .

After the change of government, he initially became ambassador of the Federal Republic of Germany to NATO in consultation with Helmut Kohl in 1998 . In 1999 he was later "punished" with the post of ambassador in Spain , after he was able to successfully assert himself against the transfer to Tokyo, which is far from Europe.

In 2002, like his predecessor Henning Wegener, Federal Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer was bitterly put into temporary retirement for political reasons.

Bitterlich was Executive Vice President International Affairs at the French company Veolia Environnement in Paris and headed the German business and left the group at the end of 2012.

A ZEIT article from 1998 described him as a “secondary foreign minister” and “the most powerful official in Bonn”, “a key figure in the Kohl system”.

Joachim Bitterlich is a professor at ESCP Europe .

Retired October 2002

As usual, his transfer to temporary retirement as ambassador was not publicly justified. The Foreign Minister can do this because Grade A 16 ambassadors are political officials . This was the first time an ambassador had been transferred to temporary retirement since the Eastern Treaties were signed . It was suspected that he was accused of having provided campaign assistance from the CDU opposition in his function as Ambassador of the Federal Republic of Germany from Madrid. He had advised Wolfgang Schäuble on European issues. During his time as NATO ambassador, he was also suspected of working against the red-green coalition. His recall was considered politically motivated. Since 1998 he has been "a thorn in the side" of Fischer.

Positions

France

In his European-political publications, Bitterlich particularly emphasizes the importance of Franco-German relations as the foundation of the European community. He was rather skeptical about eastward expansion. He sees Helmut Kohl's role as crucial. The FAZ review of The Europe of the Future criticized this in 2004 as Bitterlich's “all too obvious justifications for (European) politics under Kohl”.

Security policy

Among other things, a 2016 review of security policy in Europe bitterly criticized the noticeable shortening of the development of the “return of geopolitics” to the occupation of Crimea by Russia, which is presented as a key feature of the “new” situation. He misses the "analysis and critical appraisal of the cause and characteristics, yes of the fundamental political errors on the way there".

“This also applies to the assessment of developments in the Near and Middle East as well as in North Africa and the Balkans, which remain explosive, especially the development of relations with Turkey and Russia, where the West has apparently ignored all warning signals for years. "

This should also include the critical examination of the discussions in Germany itself and the assessment by its partners.

“Unfortunately, in this context, the successful efforts of Federal Chancellor Dr. Helmut Kohl hardly appreciated in the 90s a progressive 'normalization' of German foreign and security policy and assumption of a natural leadership role in Europe as well as beyond Europe - a seamless continuation of this line might have made it easier for Germany in the crisis of the past decade, To practice leadership and responsibility successfully. "

Russia

Bitterlich characterized the policy of the EU and Germany towards Russia on the issue of the Association Agreement with Ukraine , the Ukraine crisis and the Crimean crisis in 2016 as wrong and dangerous. Looking back at the time after reunification, Bitterlich saw historical failures in shaping relations with Russia. "We all have a certain degree of complicity in the situation we have today with regard to Russia and Ukraine, namely the Americans, the Europeans, the Russians and the Ukrainians themselves". In 2006 the EU Commission was close to concluding a comprehensive contract with Russia. Unfortunately, you did not take this chance. From then on, things went downhill in a certain way. Putin appealed to the Europeans at the Munich Security Conference in 2007 not to let Europe break again. The Americans were no longer on this line under Bush Junior, it was also a different time in Europe and unfortunately this opportunity was let pass.

USA, NATO and Trump

Bitterlich saw the new political situation of the American presidency as an opportunity to reform NATO and to found a European pillar in it. The EU should develop its own security policy. He ruled out a threat to Eastern European countries from Russia. He believes that the time has come for NATO to develop a more sensible relationship with Russia. He believes that both Americans and Europeans have simply made too many mistakes against Russia since the beginning of the century: “that they misjudged Russia and cornered it unnecessarily. You have not heard the warnings, the warnings of NATO expansion, warnings about Georgia and Ukraine. "

Schengen

What was bitterly missed, especially after the terrorist attack in Brussels, was the “holistic” approach to European policy, which was never implemented despite Helmut Kohl's repeated attempts. There must be interaction with the EU's foreign and security policy, above all with a fundamentally renewed neighborhood policy and including a common development policy. To this end, prevention and thus other policy areas such as education and training must also be included. If EU policy fails to do this, “ Schengen ” could not only become a scapegoat, but the grave digger of the European idea.

Awards

Private

Bitterlich lives in Paris and has been married to Martine Brévart, a French woman from Lorraine, since 1969. He has three children: Corinne, Jean-Yves and Alexander, plus five grandchildren: Claire, Nicolas, Marie-Amélie, Apolline and Arthur.

Publications

Web links

Commons : Joachim Bitterlich  - Collection of Images

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c An ambassador announces his expulsion himself . In: The world ,
  2. ^ Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung via faz.net, accessed on January 2, 2013
  3. ↑ Wolfgang Proissl: Besides Foreign Minister . In: Die Zeit , No. 37/1998
  4. ^ Diplomacy: Electoral Aid from Madrid? In: Der Spiegel . No. 41 , 2002 ( online ).
  5. ↑ Germany, France, Europe . In: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung . May 9, 2005 ( faz.net [accessed April 5, 2017]).
  6. ^ Review by Professor Joachim Bitterlich. CISG-Bonn, accessed on April 5, 2017 .
  7. ↑ Joachim Bitterlich, Professeur à ESCP-Europe et ancien conseiller diplomatique du chancelier Helmut Kohl. Retrieved April 5, 2017 (French).
  8. ↑ 25 years ago: The alliance question - the highly nervous mixture of reunification. In: Deutschlandradio Kultur. Retrieved April 5, 2017 .
  9. ↑ Trump, NATO and Russia - New Course? Deutsche Welle , accessed April 5, 2017 .
  10. ↑ Schengen threatens to become the EU's gravedigger . In: Causa Debattenportal . ( tagesspiegel.de [accessed on April 5, 2017]).
  11. ↑ a b List of all decorations awarded by the Federal President for services to the Republic of Austria from 1952 (PDF; 6.9 MB)
  12. ↑ Joachim Bitterlich: The Europe of the future. A contribution to the current European debate. pearl diver, accessed April 5, 2017 .
  13. ↑ Joachim Bitterlich: Europe - Mission Impossible? A contribution to the current European debate. pearl diver, accessed April 4, 2017 .
personal data
SURNAME Bitterly, Joachim
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German diplomat
DATE OF BIRTH July 10, 1948
PLACE OF BIRTH Saarbrücken-Dudenweiler