Prior to the new year the German government, a coalition of the Social Democrats (SPD) and the Greens, definitively abandoned its previous posture of categorical opposition to a war against Iraq. When asked by Spiegel magazine whether Germany would vote against such a war in the United Nations Security Council, Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer (Green Party) replied, “This cannot be decided in advance, because nobody knows how and under what circumstances the Security Council will deal with this issue.”
This statement provoked angry protests within the membership of the SPD and the Greens, but Chancellor Gerhard Schröder (SPD) immediately backed his foreign minister: “One only decides on one’s vote in committees when one knows the background to the decision", he told Spiegel.
Schröder tried to pre-empt any further discussion on the issue within his party. “There is no point whatsoever in engaging in such speculations,” he said, and promised, “Germany’s vote will reflect the position we put forward before and after the elections.”
If this were really so, Schröder and Fischer would have to announce a clear rejection of any war resolution in the Security Council. Germany has been a non-permanent member of the Council since the beginning of January, and will head it for the month of February.
This statement provoked angry protests within the membership of the SPD and the Greens, but Chancellor Gerhard Schröder (SPD) immediately backed his foreign minister: “One only decides on one’s vote in committees when one knows the background to the decision", he told Spiegel.
Schröder tried to pre-empt any further discussion on the issue within his party. “There is no point whatsoever in engaging in such speculations,” he said, and promised, “Germany’s vote will reflect the position we put forward before and after the elections.”
If this were really so, Schröder and Fischer would have to announce a clear rejection of any war resolution in the Security Council. Germany has been a non-permanent member of the Council since the beginning of January, and will head it for the month of February.