Baerbock at Maischberger
“It’s important that all questions are clarified with the Taurus”
September 21, 2023, 2:10 a.m
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ARD talk show host Sandra Maischberger has a high-profile virtual visitor to her talk show this evening. Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock joined in from New York. The most important thing: She still hasn’t given a date for the deliveries of Taurus cruise missiles to Ukraine.
The decision to supply Taurus cruise missiles to Ukraine has still not been made. This is what Federal Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said this evening on the ARD talk show Maischberger. “We are in intensive contact with the federal government,” said Baerbock: “We still have to look at details. It is important that all questions are clarified.” The politician cannot say how long this will take. “It takes as long as it takes,” said Baerbock. However, she can understand the urgent demand of her Ukrainian counterpart Kuleba for the delivery of the cruise missiles.
It is important that Germany and the West do not forget Ukraine. Baerbock also made this clear in a conversation with children in Ukraine. After the war, Germany would help bring back every single child kidnapped by Russia. She also spoke about supporting Ukraine with Republican politicians in the USA, especially with Texas Governor Greg Abbott. “And then the answer came that they will do that.”
Baerbock on UN reform
There were also discussions about UN reform at the United Nations General Assembly currently taking place in New York. “It has long been a suggestion from us Germans that the UN Security Council needs to be reformed because it does not reflect the world as it is. There are no African and no Latin American representatives there. But in the current situation you cannot have the Security Council just change it like that.” Baerbock rejects Ukrainian President Zelensky’s proposal to exclude Russia from the UN Security Council because of its blockade policy in the Ukraine war.
“We have chosen a different solution. Over the last year and a half, I have campaigned strongly at the UN General Assembly, the assembly of all the states in the world, in which not only five countries are represented: If the Security Council is blocked, then all states have to stand up raise their voices in the world who believe in peace. And fortunately, more than two thirds of these states have done so and have condemned in the strongest possible terms this brutal Russian war of aggression, which is also an attack on the United Nations.”
According to Baerbock, a future summit on UN reform will take place next year, organized by Germany and Namibia. The German reform proposals will also be discussed there. In the meantime, Germany is running for renewed temporary membership in the UN Security Council.”
A stir after Baerbock’s criticism of China
An interview on the US television channel Fox News caused a stir last week, in which Baerbock described Chinese President Xi as a dictator. Baerbock explains: “China is a one-party system with massive human rights violations and threats against other states. Look at the Philippines. I made that statement on site. You always have to weigh up when things are important to be called by name.”
This should also apply to the current problems in Europe, which Baerbock will have to deal with again after the UN General Assembly. This includes, above all, the current refugee crisis. “We are working in the European Union to ensure that we have a common asylum regulation, because it is obviously not working at all at the moment,” says the minister. The aim is to protect humanity towards war refugees. But it’s also about order: “People need to know clearly: Only those who have the right to asylum can stay in Europe. We need clear regulations for returns, and we need common rules for distribution in Europe.” Finding a solution in 27 different EU states is not easy. “But that’s the job we have to do now.”