Horst Teltschik’s critical view of foreign policy

Former head of the Federal Chancellery Horst Teltschik criticises the lack of strategies in politics

Former head of the Federal Chancellery Horst Teltschik views the foreign policy situation with concern. At the Talk im Econvent with Alexander Maier, the former chairman of the Munich Security Conference criticised the lack of strategies in politics.

Horst Teltschik in conversation with Alexander Maier. Photo: Markus Brändli

Horst Teltschik looks at the world political situation with concern. That the US President “tweets about his flatulence every morning” leaves Helmut Kohl’s former adviser and long-standing chairman of the Munich Security Conference speechless. But the widely travelled politician and manager knows that the president, who is highly controversial in Europe, has a solid base of supporters in the USA. “Business is behind him,” because companies benefit from tax cuts, the 79-year-old said at the Talk im Econvent in conversation with EZ editor Alexander Maier.

In the two-hour conversation, Teltschik, who is regarded as one of the architects of German reunification, did not just look back on his political achievements. Helmut Kohl’s former strategist views the world political situation with great concern. “Europe is crumbling,” Teltschik summed up the situation clearly and succinctly. Brexit is not the only sign of this. But the honorary professor, who teaches economics at the Technical University of Munich, sees no way out: “There is a lack of strategies.” Nevertheless, he has hopes for the new President of the EU Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, who has already shown assertiveness in her other offices. Teltschik does not see her lack of experience in European policy as a disadvantage. A “fresh view from outside” can sometimes do good.

Building trust

During his years at the Federal Chancellery, Teltschik was head of the department for “Foreign and Intra-German Relations, Development Policy and External Security”. There he met heads of state and foreign ministers from all over the world and used his negotiating skills in personal talks. What did it mean to negotiate with the great figures of world politics, Alexander Maier wanted to know from the former Kohl adviser. “Above all, it is important to build trust,” Teltschik is convinced. He sees meeting all negotiating partners at eye level as an important basis for a functioning foreign policy. But this is where the current foreign policy of the USA is failing. Ever since President George W. Bush declared the “global war on terror” after the terrorist attacks of 11 September 2001 in the USA, politicians have regarded the Russians merely as a regional power. President Barack Obama, too, hardly bothered with the Russians. “In principle they are right, but you shouldn’t show it so openly.” The foreign policy adviser is convinced that it is precisely the long-established power of the Russians in Arab countries and in Afghanistan that could have been very useful to the NATO states.

Intercultural communication

That Teltschik’s great talent is communication was clearly evident in the conversation. With his clear, honest answers, he took the audience on a journey through contemporary history. As chairman of the Munich Security Conference, Teltschik repeatedly brought together politicians from different cultures. “We had got the great powers to disarm,” he says, looking back on the era of former Chancellor Kohl. Now, by contrast, the states are once again in a phase of massive rearmament.

In domestic politics, Teltschik sees many problem areas. The former head of the Federal Chancellery, who later worked in the private sector as managing director of the Bertelsmann Foundation and as president of Boeing Germany, views the SPD’s massive losses with concern. “We need the Social Democrats so that the system of people’s parties continues to work.” According to Teltschik, the fact that the right-wing populists of the AfD continue to grow stronger is also due to developments within the CDU. “The wings of the past, where voters could gather, no longer exist.”

How fiercely the Christian Democrats argued among themselves is something Teltschik, who has made Bavaria his home and lives in Rottach-Egern, experienced in heated discussions with the then CSU leader Franz Josef Strauß: “He ran down my boss Helmut Kohl, and I didn’t know how to react.” For Teltschik, Kohl was a knowledgeable historian who knew how to assess the political situation against the background of history. All too often, he says, this horizon is missing today.

First published in the Eßlinger Zeitung on 15 January 2020 by the author Elisabeth Maier