On February 27, three days after the start of the war in Ukraine, Olaf Scholz took everyone by surprise, including some of his ministers who had not been taken into his confidence, by announcing before the Bundestag that the Germany was going to increase its military spending to 2% of its gross domestic product (against 1.5% today) and allocate a special fund of 100 billion euros to its army. “We are living in a time of change”declared the German Chancellor in a speech announcing a break with the defense and security policy pursued by his country since the end of the Cold War.
But the break is not the adventure. Because if Germany is ready to change course, it also knows how far it does not want to go. This was explained by Olaf Scholz on Wednesday March 23 in a new speech to the Bundestag, the objective of which was above all to reassure public opinion that this war, a two-hour flight from Berlin, is increasingly worrying. more.
On this level, he wanted to be very clear. Firstly by opposing an end of inadmissibility to “those who demand a no-fly zone or the sending of a NATO peacekeeping mission to Ukraine”as proposed by Poland. “As difficult as it is, we will not give in”said the German Chancellor. “NATO will not be a co-belligerent”he promised, referring to “the hundreds of letters and e-mails that [lui] address fellow citizens every day (…) who wonder if this war will come to [eux] ».
Balancing game
Second commitment: Germany will not give up gas or oil supplies from Russia in the short term. “To do so overnight would be to plunge our country and all of Europe into recession”warned Olaf Scholz. Hundreds of thousands of jobs would be threatened. Entire industrial sectors would be in trouble. »
This clarification was expected, particularly from economic circles. ” The European Union [UE] is not prepared for a complete and short-term embargo on energy products”said Wednesday, the president of the powerful Federation of German Industrialists, Siegfried Russwurm. “Such an embargo would endanger the unity of the EU and its ability to act politically and economically”, he warned. The Chancellor heard the message: “Sanctions should not hit European states harder than Russian leaders. We are doing no one a favor by jeopardizing the very substance of our economy.”he said.
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