Germany must stop using its past as a “shield” and use its armed forces more frequently and decisively, federal president Joachim Gauck has warned, in the clearest sign yet that country’s longstanding aversion to the use of its military may be beginning to crack.
“Germany can’t carry on as before,” Mr Gauck said on Friday, pulling few punches in a speech that cited German indifference and European navel-gazing amid “rapid” and “dramatic” new threats to the “open world order”.
“When the last resort – sending in the Bundeswehr – comes to be discussed, Germany should not say no on principle,” the president said.
Mr Gauck appeared as the keynote-speaker at the Munich Security Conference – the world’s largest annual gathering of defense chiefs and politicians.
