That German Bundestag also approved the delivery of heavy weapons to Ukraine with 586 votes in favour, 100 against and 7 abstentions. The largest opposition party, the Cdu-Csuhe refrained from submitting his own majority-splitting text and signed a joint motion with the governing parties. With this vote, the government is led by the chancellor Olaf Scholz got the green light for his sanctions policy against the Russia (which could go as far as expelling it from the Swift system), support for war crimes investigations, and a commitment to transform infrastructure to reduce energy dependence on Moscow. “The German Bundestag condemns in the strongest possible terms Russia’s brutal war of aggression against Ukraine. Russia is blatantly violating international and humanitarian law and trying to permanently destroy peace in Europe,” the text reads. Russian soldiers are asked to lay down their arms and grant them asylum in Europe.
Germany does not intend to become a party to the war, but cannot leave Ukraine defenseless against Russian aggression, and for this reason the Bundestag instructs the government to “continue to supply and, if possible, expedite appropriate material to Ukraine, including the dispatch of heavy weapons and complex systems, including through the expansion of triangulation agreements, “but without endangering German defense capabilities in the United StatesNATO alliance Expanding involvement in the defense of the eastern flank, particularly the Baltic countries, also with other soldiers and vehicles. The aim must be to maintain the order of peace and security in Europe, in which all states are guaranteed the inviolability of their borders.
However, they were not absent from the debate controversial tones. After the Green MP Britta Haselmann affirmed Ukraine’s right to itself defensethe group leader of the Christian Democrats Friedrich Merz underlined the extended “Hesitation, hesitation, fear“ Von Scholz, who accuses him lack of driving skills. He called it “unacceptable” that the Chancellor, in an interview with Der Spiegel, had struck paternalistic tones towards the Rainbow delegation that had arrived in the past few days Kyivwho defined parliamentarians as “boy and girl”. Merz added that Scholz finally gave in to pressure within his coalition and referred him to the defense minister Christina Lambrecht the announcement of the delivery of about forty anti-aircraft tanks cheetah rather than postponing his trip to Japan to explain the executive line in first person. The governing coalition, Merz concludes, only submitted its petition to parliament after the CDU/CSU parliamentary group announced it would take the initiative.
The SPD leader reacted irritably to the allegations Lars Klingebeilwho criticized Merz, not condemned immediately – at the beginning of his speech – the Russian war of aggression, preferring to start with facts of domestic politics, thereby missing the opportunity to show the depth of a statesman. However, Klingbeil and the deputies of the “traffic light coalition” thanked the CDU-CSU for agreeing to a joint text that can be used to send a unique message to Russia internationally. The leader of the Liberals has taken the same line Christian Durr which underlined the desirability of authorizing both direct and indirect arms supplies to Ukraine, as these must in fact gain ground. “Bucha is not a single episode – Dürr said – every Russian violation entails that Crimes repeat themselves“And” it is in Germany’s interest Ukraine is not losing this war“.
Dissonant tones came from the AfD: Tino Chrupalla defined acceptance of the application as “Declaration of entry into a war“. Germany – he emphasizes – is not at war with Russia, and the majority of the population does not even want it, it is in the German interest good relationships with both Ukraine and Russia. for Alexander Gauland – the 80-year-old founder of the right-wing Eurosceptic party – “it will hardly look for justifications for killing children and reducing cities to rubble, and when it comes to freedom, democracy and Western values, a country like Germany has to step up be on the right side of history Morality always beats geopoliticsOn the other hand, Gauland explains, “It is a mistake that fuels the conflict with heavy weapons, any military solution leads to disaster”, if one asks that “Russia must not win, it must also be added that it must not lose”, because it is a nuclear power and he would use the means of destruction at his disposal. In history, a peace order only lasted if the vanquished were treated fairly, Gauland continued, the best example being the order that came into being at Vienna in which 1815 after the defeat of Napoleonincluding the France it was prevented from falling into a permanent revolutionary state. Exactly the opposite was the case for Gauland Peace of Versailles in 1919, the forerunner of the Second World War and today’s parliamentary mandate is more influenced by the Peace of Versailles than by the Treaty of Vienna.
Also the parliamentarians left they voted against. The group leader Dietmar Bartsch underscore “communication disaster”The governing coalition on the armaments question to Ukraine. On the weekend Olaf Scholz he had defended the decision not to ship heavy weapons to Kyiv in order not to foment the outbreak of a third nuclear world war. “Millions of people in Germany have their own these worries and fearssaid Bartsch. So it’s not clear why the Secretary of Defense announced the opposite just 72 hours later.
The Bundestag still has to agree to this extraordinary budget out of 100 billion euros for the German armed forces which can only be approved with one constitutional reform majority two-thirds of parliamentarians. The CDU-CSU opposition is demanding that the government clarify how it intends to collect the debt while permanently tying up 2% of GDP to meet army needs. Minister Lambrecht disclosed the needs armed forces: high 350 Puma tanks delivered to the armed forces only 150 are usable, of the 51 Tiger helicopters only 9 can fly and 20 billion for ammunition is needed to meet NATO’s needs. Given the need to make national defenses effective, it is likely that in the end theCdu-Csu Union will accept a compromise.