FDP politician Strack-Zimmermann will be working in the European Parliament in the future – her successor as chairman of the Defence Committee is Marcus Faber. The 40-year-old FDP man from Saxony-Anhalt is also a staunch supporter of aid to Ukraine. In an interview, he says what he wants to do differently than Strack-Zimmermann.
ntv.de: Mr. Faber, congratulations on your election as chairman of the Defense Committee! But what are you actually doing?
Marcus Faber: It’s very simple: I chair the meetings of the Defence Committee. I have to prepare them and decide, for example, who gets the right to speak. That’s the core. But the question is, of course, what you do with the office beyond that. Since the result of the European elections at the latest, in my opinion that has been: explaining the turning point.
Your predecessor, Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann, also used her position to get on Chancellor Scholz’s nerves, putting pressure on him regarding arms deliveries. Do you want to continue where she left off?
It’s a bit like football. You can man-mark and play the terrier. But you can also play against the ball, with zonal marking. I’m concerned about the Bundeswehr’s readiness for action and supporting Ukraine, which is in our own interest. Going for the ball is the better option.
What do you say to Putin’s offer of a ceasefire in exchange for withdrawal and renunciation of NATO membership?
Putin is not making an offer here, but wants a reward for his war crimes so that he can start again. Only after the withdrawal of his invading troops from Ukraine will real negotiations be promising.
Since the invasion began, they have been loudly demanding arms deliveries. But Germany has already delivered or promised aid worth 28 billion euros. That doesn’t sound so bad after all.
The question is always: what is being done and what is needed? It all falls apart. The good news is that we are doing a lot in quantitative terms. But we often fail to pull the lever at the European level.
Marcus Faber has been chairman of the Defense Committee since Wednesday. The FDP politician succeeds Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann.
(Photo: picture alliance / photothek.de)
What do you mean?
You could say to your partners: We are supplying three Patriot systems and we are a quarter of Europe. Now it’s your turn. Then please supply twelve more. Or nine, if you like.
It would be the job of a Federal Chancellor to address something like that.
A foreign minister, a chancellor, a federal government. That’s one point. But what are we doing ourselves? We do a lot in air defense, but not much in other areas. For example, we want to replace the Fuchs armored personnel carrier in the Bundeswehr. It is decades old and we want to acquire a replacement this year. Despite this, we have not yet delivered any of the 900.
What can the fox do?
Enable protected transport. It can transport people from A to B while being armoured. It can also swim, which is also helpful in certain places. The fox is simple and robust.
Are they even ready for use?
Yes, absolutely. You don’t have to give them all away. Take the Leopard 2, for example. Out of 330 tanks, 18 were given away, that’s five percent. So 95 percent are still in our barracks.
Hasn’t the effect of these tanks fizzled out? Some even turned up as trophies in Moscow.
The battle tanks were and are very helpful. I spoke to tank crews south of Zaporizhia. They would be dead if they had still been sitting in their old Soviet T64 tanks. They are still alive because the Leopard 2s are better armored. But you can’t make a major breakthrough in a continental war like this with 18 tanks. Everyone knows that.
For a long time, the main problem for Ukrainians was a lack of ammunition. How do you assess the current situation in the war?
The situation is better now than it was three or six months ago. The USA is supplying ammunition again and hopefully deliveries from the Czech ammunition package will arrive soon. When the Russians attack, the Ukrainians can now fire back more often. But the Russians still have fire superiority. The Ukrainians still cannot respond to every shell.
The Ukrainians are now allowed to attack positions in Russia with Western weapons – was the permission overdue?
Yes. Do I really have to wait until the Russian bomber takes off and releases the glide bomb over Russian soil? Which I will then have little chance of defending against? Or can I not fight the bomber on the ground while it is being refueled and armed? Until now the answer was no, now it is yes. And I think that is right.
How far would you go? One could also say that Ukraine should be able to attack other targets with Western weapons. They already do that with their own weapons.
I have a clear opinion on this. If we hand over weapons, they are Ukrainian weapons. What the Ukrainians do with Ukrainian weapons is Ukraine’s business. They should abide by international humanitarian law. In other words, they should not commit war crimes. Not like the Russians, who are bombing apartment blocks in Kharkiv. But military targets are legitimate. Throughout Russia.
One reason why Germany is helping Ukraine is its own security. Do you really believe that Russia would attack Germany?
The good news is that 90 percent of the Russian land forces are currently deployed in Ukraine. The Russians are having great difficulty making progress, while the Ukrainians are keeping them fully occupied. But that only applies as long as the Ukrainians manage to defend their own country. After that, you have to expect and prepare for anything.
Then there are the nuclear weapons. Defense experts like you always say that we must not allow ourselves to be intimidated. Putin is only making threats, but is not serious. Can we really remain so relaxed about this?
Russia’s own military doctrine says yes. According to it, the Russians only use nuclear weapons if they themselves are attacked or if the Russian heartland is in danger. And the Ukrainians are not standing in front of Moscow.
But isn’t Crimea also Russian heartland, from Putin’s point of view?
No. How can something that is so peripheral be a core country? I think that’s absurd. Last but not least, China also draws a clear line when it comes to nuclear weapons. It has made that clear.
In the budget negotiations, Defense Minister Pistorius announced 6.7 billion euros, which Finance Minister Lindner had allocated to him. Who are you rooting for more? The Defense Minister or your FDP leader?
You can declare any amount you want. Any ministry could certainly do that. Financial plans have been submitted for all ministries. The Ministry of Defense does not have to make cuts. Most others have to. You could also say: we can be happy with that.
But Mr Lindner himself says that defense must be financed from the federal budget. Then the budget must grow significantly until the special funds are used up by 2027.
It does. When I came to the Bundestag in 2017, the defense budget was 38 billion. Now it is 52. We still have a few years left. And defense has never been as high a priority as it is now.
Some already see the next special fund for the Bundeswehr on the horizon.
A new special fund would be catastrophic. We cannot sacrifice Germany’s financial stability and sustainability. Russia will fail financially because of this war. It can start up its war economy however it wants. It has the gross national product of Italy. With a significantly higher population! Our financial stability is very relevant for defense readiness.
Pistorius has just announced a partial return to conscription. What do you think about that?
What Mr Pistorius presented to the committee makes sense in principle. To say: you will receive a letter, you will take part in an online survey, we require you to do this. Then we will have a picture of who is actually interested in the Bundeswehr. And of those who are interested, we will look to see who would be suitable. Even if they do something else after six or twelve months, you build up a reserve over the years. You then no longer have to explain to them how to dismantle the G36 assault rifle.
If you meet someone who is still undecided – what do you say to them?
Check it out and see if it’s something for you. Go to the Bundeswehr Day. Look at how many different jobs there are. I can become a mechatronics engineer or a teacher. Or an IT expert. Not all soldiers are the same.
Volker Petersen spoke with Marcus Faber