Spokesperson: established procedures
Scholz is not clear behind Baerbock’s “Leopard” commitment
01/23/2023, 2:17 p.m
In the event that other countries apply for approval for a “Leopard” delivery, Foreign Minister Baerbock promises the green light. However, she does not repeat this statement. Even Scholz’ spokesman does not stand behind her.
The federal government wants to decide on possible applications for the transfer of “Leopard” battle tanks to Ukraine using the specified procedures. When asked whether Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock spoke for the entire federal government with her statement that Germany would not oppose the delivery of “Leopard” battle tanks from other countries to Ukraine, government spokesman Steffen Hebestreit did not give a precise answer. He said: “I would like to put it this way: If such an application were made in Germany, which is not the case at the moment, then there are well-established procedures in which such a request is answered. And we will stick to them Everyone.”
According to Baerbock, Germany would not oppose the delivery of “Leopard” main battle tanks from other countries to Ukraine. “We have not been asked so far and (…) if we were asked, we would not stand in the way of that,” the Green politician told the French broadcaster LCI. Baerbock answered the question of what would happen if Poland delivered “Leopard” tanks to Ukraine. However, it remained unclear whether she actually represented a finally agreed position of the federal government.
Baerbock did not repeat her statement before the EU foreign ministers discussed the matter in Brussels. Asked whether the federal government would allow a third country to export the device, she simply said that it was “important that we as the international community do everything we can to defend Ukraine so that Ukraine wins”. Poland’s Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki has meanwhile announced that he will ask the federal government for approval for the delivery.
“Passions lead to exaggerations”
Hebestreit said that Chancellor Olaf Scholz felt confirmed in his course of carefully considering the issue. With a view to the conference of the states supporting Ukraine in Ramstein last week, the decision was made to supply the attacked country with armored personnel carriers. Hebestreit: “And two weeks later there is a discussion in which one has the feeling that Ukraine, armed with spears and slingshots, has to defend itself against Russian aggression.”
In view of the increasingly energetic demands from Ukraine and also within Germany for battle tanks for Ukraine, the government spokesman said: “We have passionate debates, and these passions sometimes lead to exaggerations on all sides.” You should allow yourself that and “don’t put every word on the gold scales”. Ukraine can rely on Germany. One must understand statements from Kyiv. Hebestreit: “It’s a matter of life and death in the truest sense of the word.”
Klingbeil speaks of “cross shots” from the coalition partners
SPD leader Lars Klingbeil has meanwhile criticized “cross-shots” by politicians from the FDP and the Greens and suggested that the party leaders of the coalition partners intervene. “I know what I would do as party leader if my party kept throwing cross shots like this,” said Scholz’s party friend. “I would talk to the relevant people. That doesn’t reflect well on your own party leadership if there are always people around.”
The dispute in the coalition over the delivery of Leopard 2 main battle tanks had escalated in the past few days. The FDP politician Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann, chairwoman of the Defense Committee in the Bundestag, described the Chancellor’s communication on the tank issue as a “disaster”. The chairman of the Europe Committee in the Bundestag, Anton Hofreiter from the Greens, told the newspapers of the Funke media group that the federal government was making a “significant mistake” with its hesitation and was losing trust. “That must now be corrected quickly.”