Chancellor Scholz’s no to the delivery of long-range Taurus for Ukraine still applies. His opponent Friedrich Merz would answer the controversial question completely differently.
CDU leader Friedrich Merz would supply long-range Taurus cruise missiles to Ukraine, which is constantly being bombarded by Russia – but only under certain conditions. “I wouldn’t just do it like that,” said Merz on the ARD program “Caren Miosga”. “I would say: If the bombing doesn’t stop, then the first step is to lift the range limitation. And the second step is to deliver the Taurus.” Merz added: “And then (Russian President Vladimir) Putin has it in his hands how far he wants to escalate this war.”
Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s (SPD) traffic light lacks a strategic view of the options in Ukraine policy. The government is letting Putin know all the details. They even argue publicly about their different positions on concrete next steps.
Merz wants European decision on Taurus
So far, Germany and the USA have refused to allow Ukraine to use the weapons they have supplied against targets on Russian territory. Ukraine wants to use this to attack Russian military facilities from which Putin is attacking civilian places and people in Ukraine. In particular, according to Scholz’s wishes, the German Taurus cruise missiles with a range of 500 kilometers should not be delivered yet.
Merz emphasized that a decision about the Taurus delivery should be made at European level. Europe urgently needs to become more independent of the USA in its aid to Ukraine in the interests of common security. In view of a possible victory for the Republican Donald Trump in the US presidential elections at the beginning of November, Europe urgently needs to prepare for a leading role.
CDU candidate wants strong rearmament because of Putin
Merz announced that he would campaign for significantly higher arms spending in the upcoming federal election campaign. “We have to do that,” said Merz. “The budget (of the Bundeswehr) has to grow.” The billion-dollar special fund for the Bundeswehr will be used up by 2028 at the latest. In 2029, a gap of 30 billion euros will have to be filled.
It could also be that significantly more money is needed – and spending should be closer to 3 percent of the gross domestic product instead of the current 2 percent. Russia is currently arming itself to such an extent that the country will be able to attack NATO territory in five to eight years, said Merz. Germany and the West were wrong when it was assumed that Putin would not invade Ukraine. “We can’t be wrong again.” With a view to a possible Russian NATO attack, Merz said: “The price (of a new error) would be much higher.”
Source: Stern
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