Does Germany do too little?
Or is the question the wrong one and should actually be: Can Germany do more at all?
Anne Will gropes her way.
Berlin – “There were mistakes” – SPD party chairman Lars Klingbeil has the thankless role of defending the government’s controversial course in the “Anne Will*” political talk in the first.
But when
world
journalist Robin Alexander looks back and criticizes: “In 2014/2015, some refineries were sold to Russia.
Storage tanks were sold to Russia.
We became dependent on that when the first wave of this war was already underway.
Against the advice of the entire professional world”, Klingbeil can do nothing but confirm.
However, the SPD man quickly regains his composure after his admission and does not do Alexander the favor of continuing to debate yesterday's mistakes - "dramatic political mistakes", as the journalist calls them.
Instead, he brings the ship of the Scholz* government back on course: "We talked about the 'turning point'," says Klingbeil, and it is now "consistent".
Later he said surprisingly soberly: "First of all, it is Putin's responsibility* to stop this war." A sentence that the foundation president Marieluise Beck,
the
who has just returned from a visit to Kyiv almost despairs: "He won't do that," she exclaims and calls for drastic steps in the escalating Ukraine conflict* instead of "filling Putin's war chest".
"Anne Will" - these guests discussed with:
Lars Klingbeil (SPD)
– party leader
Markus Söder (CSU)
- Prime Minister of Bavaria
Prof.
_
Veronika Grimm -
Member of the Advisory Council for the assessment of overall economic development
Marieluise Beck (Bündnis 90/Die Grünen)
- Board of Directors of the Foundation "Zentrum Liberale Moderne"
Robin Alexander -
Deputy Editor-in-Chief of the
World
The “turn of the era” named by Federal Chancellor Olaf Scholz and quoted by Klingbeil gets new nourishment from the war front from Anne Will* for the first time: The pictures from the Kiev suburb of Butscha, which was taken by Russian troops and then abandoned again, show the legacies of cruel crimes* against civilians: Executions, torture, rape.
From the Ukrainian side, there is talk of “genocide”; after US President Joe Biden, Scholz now also used the word “war crime” – albeit with a paraphrase.
He emphasized: "The murder of civilians is a war crime."
In view of this constantly expanding war situation, Anne Will asks for more pressure on Russia and titles her political talk "Dispute over Russian oil and gas - should Germany stop imports immediately?".
But in the show, only the former Greens politician Beck speaks out in a moving appeal for an immediate energy freeze and for more arms deliveries.
Because what Germany is currently doing "is not decisive enough for Ukraine," says Beck.
"People are dying in Ukraine," she warns, and even sees the Ukrainian state as a whole in danger.
"We'll have to ask ourselves afterwards," predicts the Green politician: "Have we tried everything to prevent that?"
Klingbeil and Söder argue about nuclear power in "Anne Will".
Lars Klingbeil and the Bavarian Prime Minister Markus Söder* make no secret of the fact that they see their task primarily in protecting the interests of the population in Germany than in those of neighboring countries and are unanimously opposed to an immediate stop.
Söder chooses dramatic words: "That would be too heavy a skid mark for us," he warns and speaks - without getting specific - of "big companies" that "really panic".
He also sees little scope for compensation payments, because "the fact is," said the Prime Minister, "that Germany is on the way to over-indebtedness.
You just have to look at the debt cascades.”
Klingbeil tries to formulate something that sounds more moral, doesn't focus as much on the financial aspect, but means the same thing when he describes the "immediate gas embargo" as "the wrong way" and draws an apparent alternative on the horizon: "We shoot everyone Turn off the gas tap a little further”.
Söder counters: "I'm not at all sure whether Germany really frees itself from the gas tap every day." So far, "only talk" has been said of the CSU man, who shortly afterwards, however, was skeptical when he suggested a solution to the impending energy crisis brings the extension of nuclear power plant operating times into play: "If we say we want to finally become independent in 2024, and then get out of nuclear energy before then, we will exacerbate the crisis within the crisis".
With its slow exit, Germany gives Russia the opportunity for alternatives
Söder demands: "A withdrawal from the withdrawal." Klingbeil comments cynically: "If Mr. Söder is such a big fan of nuclear energy, then he can perhaps answer the question of whether he would be willing to accommodate the repository in Bavaria. A camera pan shows Söder biting his lip contritely.
Anne Will is also skeptical: “Nuclear power plants during the war?” she asks, referring to the possibility of an attack target.
"Are the sanctions enough to stop Russia?" Will tries to fathom.
Here, too, Alexander criticizes the federal government for having chosen the wrong strategy in terms of the type of sanctions: "We kept out the area that goes directly to the power apparatus," analyzes the journalist.
The sanctions would hit the “common people” instead of the “elites”.
In addition, it only works: "Everything at once, so that the effect is strong," says Alexander.
"To say you start, and then do a little more, and in two years you'll be at the end point," only opens up loopholes and the opportunity for Russia to look for alternatives.
Söder sees the problem in a similar way and states: “Russia is trying very hard to find other partners” and is partially successful: “It is bad to see when nations that are actually friends of ours, such as India, are really happy that they now get everything for free.” Söder apparently still has his doubts as to whether this tactic will ultimately be successful for Russia.
The war would make Russia a "small country" that was "dependent on China and others."
Conclusion of the "Anne Will" talk
Ex-politician Beck describes the impressions of her current visit to Ukraine: "I was in a children's hospital in Kyiv.
It is unimaginable what one sees of injuries to children, and they come from the air.” Beck calls for weapons that empower the country occupied in the Ukraine war* to stop dropping these “deadly projectiles, bombs” over their skies.
Beck tries to compare the possibilities and willingness to short-time work and debt during the pandemic, which also involved saving human lives, but the word is cut off.
(Verena Schulemann)
