Updated on 23/04/2022 at 17:14
- Supply heavy weapons to Ukraine? When it comes to this question, opinions differ in German politics.
- Union leader Friedrich Merz is now demanding an explanation from Chancellor Scholz about his course in Russia and threatens to force arms deliveries with a Bundestag order.
- This is met with great criticism from politicians in the traffic light coalition.
In the dispute over the delivery of heavy weapons to Ukraine, top politicians from the SPD, FDP and Greens have tried, despite continued disagreements on the matter, to dispel the impression that the traffic light coalition is at odds. SPD leader Lars Klingbeil, FDP leader Christian Lindner and Green Party politician Anton Hofreiter, who is a clear supporter, accused the Union of playing tactical games because it wants to force arms deliveries if necessary with an order in the Bundestag. Union faction leader Friedrich Merz asked Chancellor Olaf Scholz for a government statement on his course in Russia.
In “Spiegel”, Scholz described this as a priority to prevent the war from spilling over to NATO. “There must be no nuclear war,” he said. “I’m doing everything I can to prevent an escalation that leads to a third world war.” As far as the delivery of heavy weapons to Ukraine is concerned, there is a discussion as to whether NATO countries could therefore be perceived by Russia as a war party.
You can find more news about the war in Ukraine here.
Merz, who is also head of the CDU, said at the start of the CDU North Rhine-Westphalia’s three-week state election campaign that Scholz had to say in a government statement in the Bundestag how he assessed the situation and discussed the way forward. with the opposition. If he doesn’t, the Union faction has prepared his arms handover request to get his ideas through parliament. There is already a majority in the Bundestag with the Union, FDP and Greens for the delivery of heavy weapons. “We have an overburdened government,” criticized Merz.
SPD President Klingbeil: Union seeks role in opposition
SPD President Klingbeil told the German press agency: “I believe this shock course will harm the Union.” They are looking for their role in the opposition. “There is a war in Ukraine, people are dying there. This cruel war must not be used for partisan tactics. I hope those who see it that way will prevail in the Union.”
FDP leader Lindner said at the FDP party conference in Berlin, to which he was connected from Washington because of a corona infection: “The chancellor has the confidence of the FDP and also of his parliamentary group in the German Bundestag.” But it is also clear: “Ukraine needs military aid and heavy weapons.” He accused the Union of playing a “dangerous game”. “In times of war in Europe, I have absolutely no sympathy for this form of partisan political manoeuvring.” At its party congress, the FDP wanted to pass a board motion that provided for the delivery of heavy weapons from Germany.
Lindner came out in favor of objectifying the discussion under three premises. First, Germany must act in unison with its allies, second, it must not compromise its own defense capability and alliance obligations, and third, it must not become part of the war itself. With the €100 billion special fund planned for the Bundeswehr, Merz said the traffic light coalition will no longer have a vote on the necessary amendment to the Basic Law. “What is this more than pure partisan tactics on an issue of this historical dimension?”
Friedrich Merz criticizes Christian Lindner as Federal Minister of Finance
Merz strongly criticized Lindner. The Union is open to the special fund provided for the rearmament of the Bundeswehr. But these are nothing more than new debts. He was surprised how an FDP finance minister “accumulates one deficit after another and incurs the highest debt that has ever existed in the history of the Federal Republic of Germany”.
Green politician and head of the Europe Committee in the Bundestag, Hofreiter, again accused Scholz of hesitation in the “Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung”. At the same time, he compared his style to that of Scholz’s predecessor, Angela Merkel (CDU). “Scholz is a lot like Merkel, that’s the problem,” said Hofreiter. According to his own statement, he sees no danger to the traffic light coalition. “I see a coalition struggle in an extremely difficult situation for the right actions.”
With a view to planned union enforcement, Hofreiter said, “I don’t believe in using these things for small-scale partisan political gain.” He summarized: “We have a chancellor who is very hesitant at the moment and an opposition leader who does not have the interests of the whole in mind, but small-scale politics. Both are a problem.” (dpa/tar)