Saturday 19th December 2020
"Clarify the legitimation question"
Scholz defends the drone debate
The CDU chairwoman calls it "irresponsible", but the SPD is sticking to it: it wants to postpone a decision on armed Bundeswehr drones. It is a question of legitimacy, says Chancellor candidate Scholz. Because the use of drones raises questions of international law.
SPD Chancellor candidate Olaf Scholz defended the reluctance of the Bundestag faction in the coalition dispute over arming Bundeswehr drones and warned against false accents. "From my point of view, the point is that we don't get entangled in the technology issue, but rather clarify the question of legitimacy," said the Federal Finance Minister to the newspapers of the Funke media group.
It is "less about the actual technology, i.e. the remote control of armed aircraft, but about how these drones have been used by other, also friendly countries, in recent years". Targeted killings would have raised serious questions of international law. The SPD wanted a broad public debate to find out whether a social consensus could be generated in the long term. "It is honest to say that this consensus has not yet existed," argued Scholz. "It will take time. It is no small matter."
After ten years of discussion, the SPD parliamentary group put the project on hold and announced the need for further discussion. So it is probably off the table for the remainder of the grand coalition's reign.
Sharp criticism came from the Union. "Irresponsible – especially with a view to the security and protection of our soldiers," said Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer of the SPD decision in an interview with ntv.de. The SPD is already in election mode, said the CDU chairwoman and defense minister. "That was expectable".
The subject has become even more delicate since Azerbaijan demonstrated against Armenia in the South Caucasus how one can win a conflict with the massive use of armed drones. Kramp-Karrenbauer drew the lesson from this, "that a real war can be waged with drones. Drones are easier to obtain, they are much cheaper than the big jets." And they are not always in the hands of states, but possibly also in the hands of terrorist groups.
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