German conservatives weigh easier military mandates

Germany may consider reducing parliament's strict oversight of military operations to ease participation in overseas missions, the military expert of Chancellor Angela Merkel's ruling party was quoted as saying on Saturday.
In times of crisis the army could also continue to participate in European Union or Nato operations without approval from the Bundestag lower house of parliament, Ernst-Reinhard Beck, the Christian Democrats' military advisor in parliament, said in an interview with the Sonntag Aktuell newspaper. "In order to safeguard the operational capability of Nato and EU alliances, the Bundestag could grant a general mandate for specific treaty-determined duties in the pact so that a new decision is not required in individual cases," he said.
The move, if adopted, would speed up the process for German participation in rapid deployment forces, such as the so-called Nato Response Force and the EU's Battle Groups as well as AWACs air reconnaissance missions. Defence Minister Thomas de Maiziere said in May that Berlin planned to reduce the size of its armed forces but would play a bigger role in international missions.
The deployment of troops abroad is a controversial issue in Germany, where the legacy of World War II has shaped public opinion into a decidedly anti-war stance and interventions, such as in Afghanistan, are unpopular. Germany has some 5,000 soldiers deployed as part of Nato's mission in Afghanistan, which under current rules has required repeated renewals of a parliamentary mandate.
Until the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, the Federal Republic shied away from participation in armed conflicts, and foreign deployment of the army was limited to humanitarian aid. But in the past two decades German soldiers have fought on foreign soil for the first time in the postwar era in missions to Somalia, Kosovo, Congo, and Afghanistan, where Germany is the third largest troop contributor. Germany will begin to reduce its troop levels in Afghanistan at the end of the year, cutting its force by about 500, the chief of staff of the armed forces has said.