The WerteInitiative in conversation with the member of the Bundestag Doris Barnett, who is responsible in the budget committee as the SPD rapporteur for the Federal Foreign Office. We had sought the conversation because domestic and foreign policy are closely connected precisely on the subject of Middle East policy. In the region, Germany participates among other things in financing UNRWA, the relief agency for Palestine refugees. The allocation of the funds was the focus of our conversation here. Above all we agreed that the use of the funds must be targeted and must above all benefit the people on the ground, in hospitals as well as in the schools. We used the friendly conversation with Ms Barnett to express our conviction: all state funding – abroad as at home – should be used as an active instrument of political shaping. Part of this is to tie payments to conditions, compliance with which is to be verified where possible.
We thank Ms Barnett for the meeting and look forward to further contact.
