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Friedrich Merz
Photo: HANNIBAL HANSCHKE / REUTERS
CDU leader Friedrich Merz has sharply criticized Chancellor Olaf Scholz.
Scholz should have gone to Ukraine himself after Steinmeier's planned visit to Kyiv was canceled, Merz told the "Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung": "In my opinion, he shouldn't have let it get to the point where he was being pushed.
He should have been there by now.”
With his hesitant attitude towards Ukraine and his reluctance to deliver heavy weapons, Chancellor Scholz is making Germany look difficult, Merz said.
"With his behavior he endangers the cohesion of the entire international community towards Russia."
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The German government's Ukraine course: The Scholz problem
The attack by the CDU leader picks up on a mood that can also be felt within the traffic light coalition.
The lack of understanding among the FDP and the Greens has long been growing in the face of a head of government who often appears speechless and indecisive.
The first rehearse the uprising.
"The chancellor is the problem," says the Green Anton Hofreiter, chairman of the European Committee in the Bundestag.
A through ball that Friedrich Merz gratefully accepts: Scholz lacks the leadership he himself announced, he criticizes in an interview.
And demanded more information from the federal government about the support provided for Ukraine: "We want to know what is being delivered and, above all, why the federal government does not want to deliver available material."
At the same time, Merz emphasizes the contentual agreement with Annalena Baerbock (Greens): "I completely agree with the Foreign Minister that there are no more excuses," says the CDU politician on the discussion about the delivery of heavy weapons.
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