Ukraine war: Union wants to vote again on Taurus delivery

Chancellor Olaf Scholz faces another week of debates about the delivery of Taurus cruise missiles to Ukraine – and possibly a test for the traffic light coalition. On Thursday, the Union wants to put its motion, which was discussed for the first time in November, to a vote, which calls on the federal government to “immediately” hand over this far-reaching weapons system to Ukraine. There are signs that this motion could also be supported by the FDP and the Greens. SPD General Secretary Kevin Kühnert does not expect the Union to get a majority.

In response to a corresponding question, Kühnert said on the ZDF program “Maybrit Illner”: “No, I don’t think so, we have a coalition agreement with each other in which it is clearly stipulated that the coalition partners agree on political content together and do not agree to opposition proposals , even if Ms. Strack-Zimmermann saw things differently in the last week of the meeting.”

The Union had already submitted a motion to the Bundestag two weeks ago calling on the federal government to deliver the Taurus system to Ukraine. However, she failed. From the traffic light coalition, only the chairwoman of the Defense Committee, Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann, voted in favor. The FDP politician has already announced that she will also approve the new proposal. “My opinion is known and will not change. I will behave accordingly in further votes,” she told the news portal “t-online”.

Union hopes for votes from the traffic lights

The Union faction hopes that it will now receive more support from the traffic light ranks. This hope is nurtured, among other things, by an interview by the deputy FDP chairman Wolfgang Kubicki in the “Münchner Merkur” a few days ago. Last time, at least a dozen other colleagues were happy to agree to the Union’s proposal, but submitted to coalition discipline, said Kubicki. “I was close to it too. This time I would have reached the point of doing it.” The Union should just not bash the Chancellor or the traffic lights in its application. “Two simple sentences about Taurus and I suspect there are at least a dozen voices from the FDP who will join in.”

The Union’s application, which is now at issue, calls on the federal government to “finally and immediately comply with the Ukrainian request for the delivery of Taurus cruise missiles from available Bundeswehr stocks to the greatest possible extent.” Ukrainian soldiers should be trained to use the weapon system and Taurus cruise missiles that have been handed over should be procured immediately.

Kühnert said the Union is free to request whatever it thinks is right. “But I’m also free to see it as a certain degree of slapstick now.” If there is a vote on a Union motion again, he could say for his ranks: “Everyone in the SPD stands by what the Chancellor said.”

Scholz persistently opposes delivery

Chancellor Scholz rejects the delivery of Taurus missiles with a range of 500 kilometers to Ukraine because he fears that this could drag Germany into the war. On Monday last week he publicly justified his rejection for the first time. “What the British and French are doing in terms of target control and the accompaniment of target control cannot be done in Germany,” said the Chancellor at the dpa editorial conference in chief.

This was seen by some as an indication that the French and British were supporting the control of their Storm Shadow and Scalp cruise missiles, which were delivered to Ukraine, with their own forces. The British government immediately denied this.

The majority of citizens support the Chancellor’s line

The Chancellor is applauded by the citizens for his stance. The ZDF “Politbarometer” shows this again. 59 percent of those surveyed spoke out against the delivery of this weapon, 34 percent in favor. Rejection was similarly high recently in two other surveys, the ARD “Deutschlandtrend” and a survey by the opinion research institute YouGov on behalf of the German Press Agency.

The dispute over the Taurus delivery is also likely to be an issue at the opening of the Bundestag’s week of sessions on Wednesday. Then Scholz will answer questions from MPs in the government survey.

However, according to a report by the Germany editorial network, the Chancellor will not take part in the special meeting of the Defense Committee on the Taurus wiretapping affair on Monday. The office of Chairwoman Strack-Zimmermann reported this. The Chancellery said in writing that the federal government had agreed to send Defense Minister Boris Pistorius (SPD). Union parliamentary group vice-president Johann Wadephul criticized the fact that Scholz expressed himself elsewhere, but not in parliament. “This is a disregard for the Bundestag that is unparalleled.”