No deals until autumn 2025
Scholz blocks London’s Eurofighter delivery to Riyadh
07/12/2023, 6:25 p.m
Great Britain wants to deliver dozens of Eurofighters to Saudi Arabia. This requires the approval of Berlin. But the federal government is opposed, even though it is reassessing the Yemen conflict. On the other hand, six transport machines can be delivered to the Emirates.
The federal government does not want to agree to the delivery of Eurofighter fighter jets to Saudi Arabia until the end of its term in autumn 2025. “Any decision on Eurofighter deliveries to Saudi Arabia is not in the foreseeable future,” said Federal Chancellor Olaf Scholz on the sidelines of the NATO summit in Vilnius, Lithuania. Government circles said that the decision initially applies to this electoral period, i.e. until autumn 2025. This threatens to put European partners at odds. Because Great Britain wanted to deliver the Eurofighter to the Gulf States, but needed the approval of the federal government because the aircraft will be built in joint production.
Arms exports to Saudi Arabia are particularly controversial because the kingdom led the alliance supporting the government against the Houthi rebels in the Yemen war. The 2021 coalition agreement between the SPD, the Greens and the FDP states: “We will not issue export licenses for armaments to states as long as they can be shown to be directly involved in the Yemen war.”
According to the Chancellor, this clause should no longer be applied due to developments in the conflict. You can “no longer guide actions,” said Scholz. “The situation in Yemen has changed a lot.” Many of the actors involved in the conflict have withdrawn from the conflict.
For the time being, however, no approval is to be granted for the Eurofighters manufactured in Great Britain, for which components are supplied from Germany. The Green politician Anton Hofreiter said a few days ago that Saudi Arabia had applied for the delivery of 48 Eurofighters to Saudi Arabia and six A400M transport aircraft to the United Arab Emirates, which was also involved in the Yemen war.
New interpretation of the Yemen clause
However, the export of the transport aircraft is to be approved. The new interpretation of the Yemen clause “will then enable many decisions to be made, for example when it comes to the A400M,” said Scholz.
Hofreiter said last week that there was pressure from the Chancellery to approve the delivery. The chairman of the Europe Committee in the Bundestag told the editorial network Germany that he and other Green politicians considered this to be fundamentally wrong. One cannot continue to refuse certain weapons to Ukraine, which was invaded by Russia, and at the same time give dictatorships and autocracies state-of-the-art weapons. Saudi Arabia had already used German weapons ruthlessly against civilians in the Yemen war and the UAE had supported warlords.
But there are also geostrategic reasons that speak against such arms deliveries, said Hofreiter. Because the UAE would support General Khalifa Haftar in Libya, who in turn would be supported by the Russian Wagner mercenaries, and in Sudan the insurgent militias. Both are not in the German interest. “I expect the chancellor and the chancellery not to pursue this plan any further,” he said.