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Olaf Scholz
Photo: CLEMENS BILAN / EPA
This week Robert Habeck visited Ukraine and asked for weapons to be delivered to the country.
The head of the Greens has been criticized since then - it now also comes from Olaf Scholz.
The SPD candidate for Chancellor attacks Habeck because of his statements about arms deliveries to Ukraine.
"The seriousness of the situation in eastern Ukraine forbids making headline-grabbing advances," Scholz told the "Welt" (Friday edition).
"The discussion that has now been triggered shows that the political discourse works in a democracy - also with the Greens," he said, referring to the debate about Habeck's statements.
"The SPD is following the clear line that security policy is designed in close coordination with the EU and NATO, not by going it alone and making announcements," added Scholz.
"You can't talk about Europe all the time and then act unilaterally on a national level."
CSU foreign politician Erndl calls for a change of course
Habeck had previously shown himself to be fundamentally open to the delivery of defensive weapons to Ukraine. "Weapons for defense, self-defense, defensive weapons, in my opinion it is difficult to refuse Ukraine," he told Deutschlandfunk on Tuesday during a visit to Kiev. On Wednesday he defended the statement against criticism that had also been voiced in the ranks of the Greens.
The defense policy spokeswoman for the SPD parliamentary group, Siemtje Möller, told the "Welt" that to propose arms deliveries to the Ukraine was the instrumentalization of an extremely sensitive question: "Someone wants to put himself in the limelight." She considers the distinction between defensive and offensive weapons also for arbitrary: "From a military point of view, almost all weapons that can be used for defense can also be used for other types of operations," warned Möller.
CSU politician Thomas Erndl told SPIEGEL, on the other hand, "Arms deliveries shouldn't be taboo." The foreign politician is now urging the Union to change course on the issue.
asc / dpa
