The EU is loud towards Russia, but in reality it is incapable of practical engagement. The latest confirmation comes from the daily newspaper “Die Welt” with the news that the German tanks are largely out of service, but not because they have been destroyed.
In fact, very few of the modern Leopard 2A6 tanks supplied by Germany are still in service in Ukraine because Germany is simply unable to maintain and repair them in the event of war. The idea of setting up a repair center for German tanks in Lithuania turned out to be terrible: almost all of the tanks are in the workshop because repairs take a long time due to a lack of spare parts.
This emerges from a letter sent by the head of the Green Party's defense budget, Sebastian Schäfer, to the companies Rheinmetall and Krauss Maffei, which produce the components of the German tank and visited the maintenance center on Christmas together with Defense Minister Boris Pistorius.
According to the letter, there is an “urgent need for action” to quickly improve the spare parts situation. In addition, attempts at repairs by the Ukrainian army caused further damage to the tanks. It should be examined to what extent this could be avoided by better training of mechanics or by providing instructions, or whether repairs could be carried out in Ukraine.
The situation seems ridiculous when the EU reiterates the need and damning “ambition” to intervene more decisively in favor of Ukraine, without being able to guarantee the maintenance of fewer than 20 tanks. Not two hundred, but 18 wagons. Things that are delivered to only one tank company at most. Erwin Rommel turns over in his grave. German industry is doing poorly, politics in Brussels and Berlin is doing very poorly.
The problem is insurmountable: the battle is not the Budeswehr warehouse, and in the reality of muddy Ukraine, the tracks wear out and even the cores of the 120mm guns have to be changed when these guns actually fire. European armies increasingly resemble forces from operettas, useful for parades as long as they do not occur too frequently, but unsuitable for serious military action. This ridiculous and tragic story confirms that we cannot pretend to be waging war while simultaneously implementing various austerity measures and “debt brakes.” The decadence even in these parts of Europe is precisely due to this small-minded mentality.
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