Artistic Differences

European unity is collapsing right at the time Donald Trump reaches for Greenland

Dear readers,

January has been a tough month for the EU. If you’re thinking Greenland – sure, that was a major surprise. But there’s an even bigger problem as European unity on core policies is collapsing with its leadership. Deep rifts are opening, and Europe’s policy hawks look weaker than ever before.

In March 2015, the German population woke up to unpleasant news about the combat readiness of its armed forces, the Bundeswehr. It turned out that the workhorse rifle of the Bundeswehr, Heckler & Koch’s G36 assault rifle, malfunctioned quickly as the barrel heated up under repeat fire. The G36 was supposed to become a leading infantry rifle, feared globally for efficiency and accuracy. It was built with lightweight polymer materials, taking its cues from Austria’s futuristic Glock AUG rifle and famous pistols. The G36 also featured a weight-reduced barrel. But in combination, shooting accuracy dropped dramatically in real-world battlefield environments like Afghanistan, when consecutive magazines were emptied – from 90% accuracy to as low as 7% as the thinned barrel deformed under heat.

The German minister of defense, Ursula von der Leyen, quickly blamed the manufacturer and ordered a legal review for potential compensation and repairs of 167,000 rifles. Heckler & Koch vehemently denied design flaws and pointed to contract specifications. Performance under repeat fire hadn’t been specified anywhere, and German courts rejected the minister’s attempts to claw back money. German service personnel were left with the advice to fire only sparingly, and to keep the rifles out of direct sun exposure, please.

(Better take another gun next time, Ethan. Tom Cruise firing the G36 during the famous bridge escape scene in Mission Impossible: 3)

In the same year, von der Leyen ordered a renovation of the Gorch Fock, a majestic tall ship still in service for training at the German Navy. Initially, expenses were estimated at just below 10 million euros, but they soon spiraled out of control, reaching 135 million euros by 2019. A general review of weapons system readiness in 2017 revealed that only 38 systems out of 97 delivered were functioning, a devastating performance assessment for the responsible minister. When it turned out that consulting services for the defense department worth hundreds of millions of euros had been handed out without appropriate tender processes, von der Leyen’s career was finally over. She had taken office as defense minister in 2013 as the heir apparent of Angela Merkel, destined to become Germany’s next Chancellor. By 2019 it was clear she was politically untenable in Germany.