Is Olaf Scholz afraid?

Lanz does not give up on SPD Minister Geywitz - and makes "undertones".

Created: 04/13/2022 10:13 am

The guests at "Markus Lanz" (ZDF) on April 12, 2022.

© ZDF Mediathek (Screenshot)

With "Markus Lanz" on day 48 of the Ukraine war, SPD Vice Klara Geywitz has his hands full defending the policies of the government and its chancellor.

Hamburg – Minister of Construction Klara Geywitz (SPD) must first take a position on the resignation of Family Minister Anne Spiegel (Greens) with “Markus Lanz”*.

It is a fine line in politics to convey oneself as a person and at the same time endure the hardship of political business.

Geywitz thinks: “That might not have been the best time.

It would certainly have been better to explain yourself with a calm head the next day.”

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journalist Helene Bubrowski admits that she felt sorry for Spiegel - however, the Greens repeatedly told the untruth "to the end" and tried to cover up their actions.

Your press conference was "almost emotional blackmail".

Geywitz says she finds this analysis "exciting" because she assumes that politicians are "always 100% power robots" whose actions are always part of a larger strategy.

But politicians are also people with ups and downs: "Sometimes you are in a situation where you are no longer able to think everything through from the end." how the situation came about.

Germany and Ukraine: Lanz sharply criticized Chancellor Scholz, SPD Vice Geywitz held his head out for him

Lanz's Tuesday edition then quickly turned to the Ukraine war.

Geywitz supports the trip of the traffic light politicians Michael Roth (SPD), Anton Hofreiter (Greens) and Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann (FDP) to the Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyj.

The fact that Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) has not yet been in Kyiv is not as decisive for her as the question of what help Germany is giving Ukraine "apart from symbolic politics".

The host is surprised: Lanz asks Geywitz whether the chancellor is afraid that, like Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier, he is not welcome at Selenskyj's, but Geywitz claims that he has no knowledge of the diplomatic slap in the face.

"If in doubt, you have to ask Olaf Scholz what his travel plans look like," the deputy SPD leader tries to avoid, but talk show host Lanz has smelled a rat.

"You have an attitude about it.

Should he drive or shouldn't he?” he corners the social democrat.

The only way she can help herself is to repeat that it is important to help Ukraine beyond symbolic politics.

Lanz complains that the impression is created that Europe wants to move forward and that Germany is holding the brakes.

Geywitz refers to the fifth EU sanctions package and explains that it is currently important “to remain rational and act very carefully.

And don't go against the zeitgeist and say: Forward!" So was it wrong that England's Prime Minister Boris Johnson and EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen (CDU) went to Selenskyj*?

Geywitz considers such visits to be "not wrong", but the real question is: "What helps in practice?"

"Markus Lanz" - these were his guests on April 12:

• Klara Geywitz (SPD)

  – Federal Minister for Building

• Florence Gaub

  - Security Expert

• Lamia Messari-Becker

  - Civil Engineer

• Helene Bubrowski

  –

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  journalist

"I think war is 50 percent symbolism or psychology, anything you can't touch," interjects military sociologist Florence Gaub for the first time.

The speeches of both Zelenskyy and Russian President Vladimir Putin are peppered with symbols*.

An important signal, for example, is for Western politicians to visit Kyiv to show Putin that they dare to enter the conflict zone - and thus demonstrate their strength.

Geywitz admits: If Scholz went to Ukraine, that would undoubtedly be a strong symbol.

But she limits: “Something has to follow.

It won't be done with just photos.

As a result, something like this has to be well thought out and thought through.”

Putin's war in Ukraine - military expert Florence Gaub on "Markus Lanz": "If the Russians do it cleverly, they will encircle the Ukrainian army"

The fact that the Greens, in the person of Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock (Greens)*, are publicly opposing the Chancellor and calling for the delivery of heavy weapons to Ukraine does not seem to suit Geywitz, but she does not express any explicit criticism.

With an “undertone” that talkmaster Lanz also notes, she notes that “a great many are now very great military experts” who have recently distinguished themselves as virus experts.

She is not that herself, she can neither estimate how long it takes to upgrade tanks nor who can operate them and how, says the minister.

"Many colleagues seem to be able to do this well off the bat and they have my deep admiration," she shares in the direction of her profession.

For them, the border runs where Germany becomes a party to the conflict.

Gaub joins in and counters that it is not written anywhere as to when Germany will be part of the conflict.

Rather, Putin will wake up one day and decide “at his own discretion” that this is the case.

It is a European interpretation that one is not a party to the war as long as one does not station soldiers in Ukraine.

Official declarations of war are also a relic of the past, says Gaub.

That is why it is right to deliver weapons to Ukraine that the country needs for self-defense.

The fact that Putin announced May 9th as the day of liberation is nothing but rhetoric, even during the Syrian war the end of hostilities had been announced several times and not kept.

Gaub is certain that Putin's goal in Donbass is to "encircle and destroy the Ukrainian army" so that it no longer poses a military threat to Russia.

SPD Vice Klara Geywitz on "Markus Lanz": What consequences would a gas embargo have for the construction industry

Towards the end of the program, civil engineer Lamia Messari-Becker outlines what a complete embargo on raw materials would mean for the construction industry.

You can hardly think of a material that is not affected by the rising gas prices.

From the glass to the steel to the cement industry, all sectors are dependent on Russian gas, and insulating panels would also be unthinkable without chemical processes.

She therefore shares the analysis of the Federal Minister of Economics: “Without a short-term replacement, this will have devastating consequences for us.

I'm more with Mr. Habeck, who says that it's no longer just a matter of doing without a little bit, but of fundamental processes in industrial society."

Once in her department, Geywitz also knows about the consequences of a gas supply failure.

In view of the threat of industrial triage, she was disturbed by the trivialization of the debate: It was being pretended that it was enough to "freeze for freedom".

On the contrary, serious problems arise in such a case, such as an increasing bacterial load, if the hot water supply is not guaranteed over a longer period of time.

An alliance for affordable housing should therefore be convened in April, which above all has to clarify the question of the shortage of skilled workers.

Geywitz' preliminary forecast for the construction industry is sobering: "I don't think we will reverse the trend of falling construction costs.

But we will work together to ensure that they at least stabilize at this level.”

"Markus Lanz" - The conclusion of the show

Anyone who has forgotten that Geywitz ran together with Scholz for the party chairmanship of the SPD in 2019 will be reminded of it by "Markus Lanz" on Tuesday evening.

In phases, in “Scholzomat” style*, the SPD deputy wriggles out of Lanz’s probing questions and Bubrowski’s biting analyses.

Military expert Gaub provides substance and prudent analysis in the discussion about the Ukraine war.

At the end of the program there is not enough time to allow a deep debate between Geywitz and the civil engineer Lamia Messari-Becker about Germany's housing plans.

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