Germany creates centralised council to improve security planning

By Andreas Rinke

BERLIN, August 27 (Reuters) -The German government agreed on Wednesday to create a standing National Security Council with the goal of better planning for the country's medium- and long-term security needs.

The new body, which replaces the Federal Security Council and Security Cabinet, was a central manifesto promise of Chancellor Friedrich Merz, reflecting a sense that Germany had lost focus on security policy during the relative peace of the post-Cold War years.

"This is long overdue," said Stefan Mair, head of the SWP think tank. "The value will lie less in the decisions taken than in ensuring that different ministries see the security situation in the same way."

Germany was caught off guard by Russia's 2022 full-scale invasion of Ukraine, with gas stores half empty, and was forced to reorient its entire energy infrastructure away from Russia.

The invasion prompted soul-searching in German policy circles, with many criticising previous governments for allowing the country's armed forces to shrink since the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union.

The new council, which will have a permanent staff located in Merz's riverside office, is meant to respond to immediate threats and plan for new risks emerging on the horizon.

It will be chaired by Merz, with the finance minister acting as his deputy. The foreign, interior, justice, economy, defence, development and digitalisation ministers will also be permanent members.

Their numbers can be boosted on an ad hoc basis by representatives of German states, allied countries or scientific experts.

Germany is the latest of many countries to establish a central security committee on the model of the United States' National Security Council, with Britain among the earliest imitators in 2010.

(Writing by Thomas Escritt; Editing by Sharon Singleton)