“An attack… would be an attack on ourselves,” he said of a possible threat to Poland or Russia’s Baltic states. He promised that Germany would fulfill NATO’s commitment to spend two percent of economic output on defence. The Bundeswehr plays a central role in defending the alliance and the country, especially with the possibilities “on the ground”: “Only the US and Germany will have the necessary strength for the entire alliance”. You will have to organize this. “Everyone can count on it,” emphasized the chancellor.
New missile defense system?
Scholz also confirmed that the federal government is considering purchasing a new missile defense system. “That’s certainly one of the things we advise, and for good reason,” he said. Earlier, politicians from the traffic light coalition suggested buying an Israeli missile defense system for Germany.
The German chancellor dismissed criticism that Germany was helping to finance Putin’s war in Ukraine with its energy imports from Russia. “Russia currently cannot do anything with the money it has in its accounts because of our sanctions,” the SPD politician said. That’s about a few hundred billion in foreign exchange reserves. “So it’s very unlikely that such a connection exists.”
Germany’s dependence on energy imports from Russia will be eliminated “very quickly”. With coal, if all goes well, it could happen quickly this year, Scholz announced. This can also happen very quickly with oil. And for gas, plans that were in the drawer for a long time “have already been activated”. The technical infrastructure is being created at great speed to be able to import gas from other suppliers.