The conservative Christian Social Union (CSU) party in Germany is calling for “comprehensive” surveillance of the entire Baltic Sea in response to what it describes as growing threats, according to a policy paper seen by dpa.
The draft paper says that increasing attacks on subsea cables in the Baltic Sea, some allegedly carried out by Russia’s so-called shadow fleet, are unacceptable.
It calls for improved real-time monitoring and proposes creating a “transparent Baltic Sea” through the use of advanced technologies and artificial intelligence. Unmanned underwater drones would patrol along critical infrastructure, supported by extensive sensor networks, the document says.
The paper is due to be adopted next week at a retreat of CSU members of parliament in Bavaria.
The CSU, which only runs for election in the southern state of Bavaria and is the largest force there, is also part of the nationally governing coalition together with its sister party, the Christian Democratic Union, and the centre-left Social Democratic Party.
Lawmaker calls for Europe’s strongest conventional army
“Germany must take responsibility and provide the strongest conventional army in Europe so that, together with our alliance partners, we are ready for defence and capable of deterrence,” CSU parliamentary group leader Alexander Hoffmann told the Sunday edition of the Welt newspaper.
The path to achieving that goal does not lie in the creation of a European army, Hoffmann said, but in closer integration of Europe’s national armed forces.
“To do that, we must massively invest in our Bundeswehr, close capability gaps and gain technological sovereignty,” he said.