War: Scholz sharply criticizes the Ukraine debate in Germany

Chancellor Olaf Scholz has sharply criticized the debate that has been going on for weeks about German support for Ukraine. “The debate in Germany cannot be surpassed in terms of ridiculousness,” said the Chancellor at the Europe 2024 conference in Berlin. “This is embarrassing for us as a country.” The discussion, which is primarily about the delivery of Taurus cruise missiles, is not understood outside of Germany.

Scholz pointed out that Germany is Ukraine’s second largest arms supplier. This must first be recognized, he demanded. He would like to see a debate in Germany that does not discredit prudence as hesitation.

Pistorius: Don’t forget Ukraine’s needs

Defense Minister Boris Pistorius warns against losing sight of Ukraine’s essential defense needs in the debate.

Sufficient artillery ammunition, longer-range rocket artillery and air defense are the really existential questions, said the SPD politician on Deutschlandfunk before a new round of voting by Ukraine supporters in Ramstein.

He criticized the fact that information from a secret meeting of the Defense Committee became public. “The fact that secrets leaked out of the meeting is precisely part of this cacophony. Everyone is trying to make a name for themselves through their behavior, to play their own game in some way,” said Pistorius. In any case, he was surprised that there were more than 100 participants at such a meeting.

According to him, the unity of both the government coalition and the government factions remains unbroken when it comes to supporting Ukraine. But he also warned of damage in the Taurus debate: “Well, first of all, this discussion has been pushed to the extreme for months. That’s the right of everyone who wants that. You didn’t even have to get to the point “To rule out that once and for all. However, I believe that it must be clear that support for Ukraine in other areas is more important.”

Defense Minister distances himself from Mützenich

Pistorius reiterated that he had not spoken of freezing the war in Ukraine, as SPD parliamentary group leader Rolf Mützenich did. “Because the word freeze signals that you can simply freeze such a war and we’re not talking about a two-sided conflict and then hope that things get better. We know from history and from our experiences with Putin that that will never be like that,” said Pistorius. Mützenich’s words meant the desire for peace.

The leadership of the Union parliamentary group also sharply rejected SPD parliamentary group leader Rolf Mützenich’s recent statements about freezing the war in Ukraine. “I think this approach is absolutely unacceptable,” said the parliamentary director of the CDU/CSU members of the Bundestag, Thorsten Frei (CDU), in Berlin. He added: “I don’t see anywhere here how we can get to peace negotiations.” There seems to be “still a lot of need for clarification” within the SPD and the traffic light coalition in this context.

Despite criticism, SPD parliamentary group leader Rolf Mützenich wants to stick to his statements about freezing the war in Ukraine. When asked what he meant by the term and whether he wanted to correct it, Mützenich told the “Neue Westfälische”: “No, I don’t want that. I am trained in the social and peace sciences. There, freezing is used as a term “used to enable temporary local ceasefires and humanitarian ceasefires in a special situation, which can be translated into a permanent absence of military force.” Of course, this requires the consent of both warring parties, which cannot be dictated from outside.

“The SPD is not a party that understands Putin,” said Pistorius. The SPD has Olaf Scholz (SPD) as Chancellor and Germany is at the forefront of all European supporters of Ukraine. Pistorius: “There should and can be no doubt about our solidarity and our support for Ukraine. Everything else is a induced discussion that no one needs and that doesn’t help anyone, least of all Ukraine.”