SPD manifesto: CDU politicians speak of “refusal to reality”

On a cuddly course with Putin – that was once until Russia attacked Ukraine. Several prominent SPD politicians, including former parliamentary group leader Rolf Mützenich, foreign politician Ralf Stegner, ex-party leader Norbert Walter-Borjans, and ex-Federal Finance Minister Hans Eichel, want to go back to the friendly relationship. In a so -called “manifesto” that star There is a matter of discussions with Putin and stopping the stationing of new US medium-sized racets in Germany. They also criticize the federal republic’s upgrading plans and instead demand a “gradual return to relaxation of relationships and cooperation with Russia”.

The paper is delicate for several reasons. The Federal Party Congress of Comrades will take place at the end of June. Almost at the same time, NATO members meet for a summit on which Germany wants to commit to massively increase its defense expenses. With the letter, the authors not only face the line of their own party, but also against the course of the Merz government. The criticism was therefore not long in coming.

The domestic spokesman for the SPD parliamentary group in the Bundestag, Sebastian Fiedler, said the document “irritated, disturbed and annoyed him”. “There is even talk of cooperation with Russia, i.e. with a war criminal who is preparing to take a look at further targets,” Fiedler told the broadcaster RTL and NTV on Wednesday.

He was “absolutely a supporter of the Federal Government’s course,” added Fiedler. With a view to the member vote of the Social Democrats on the coalition agreement with the Union, he said: “I would like to remind you that almost 85 percent of the members of the SPD have agreed to this coalition agreement for good reasons, and the breathes a different language.”

There were similarly critical voices from the ranks of the Christian Democrats: Roderich Kiesewetter, former President of the Association of the Reservists of the German Bundeswehr and now MP in the Bundestag, described the “Manifesto” on the platform X as “outrageous” and accused the comrades so that the Ukraine “of Russia’s” and Germany is immediately possible.

The head of the CDU worker wing Dennis Radke reacted even more angry. He accused the coalition partner a “wrong understanding of Brandtscher Ostpolitik”. Ralf Stegner. Ju-boss Johannes Winkel

Member of the Bundestag Kai Whittacker made it clear that they were still behind Ukraine and thus confirmed the course of the Merz government. to explain his attitude in the conflict with Russia. Ex-Health Minister Hermann Gröhe wrote: “SPD-Linke gets out from the turn of the times! Nothing learned!”

The author of the paper, on the other hand, defended the manifesto. Foreign politician Ralf Stegner told him starhe is also concerned with a new adjustment of the party’s internal debate. “The SPD must remain part of the peace movement.”

Former parliamentary group leader Rolf Mützenich told him star. “Our considerations cannot answer all questions either, and yet we are looking for away in dangerous times, especially since the high investments in the military and armor limit the financial means for innovations and reforms inside.” The attack on Russian troops to Ukraine and “the continued aggressive policy of the Kremlin against its neighborhood” represented one of the greatest challenges for European foreign and security policy. “In the core, we need a combination of defense ability and incentives for conflict insulation and for coexistence.”

The so-called Harmel report of NATO at the end of the 1960s or the deployment of medium-range weapons in Europe at one of the culmination of the Cold War in the 1970s would have thought, according to Mützenich. “We would be well advised to learn from these experiences.”