Scholz scandal?
Union sees traffic light alliance already "brittle" - FDP politicians appeased "irritated"
Created: 05/13/2022, 13:10
By: Andreas Schmid
Olaf Scholz on Friday on his way to the Defense Committee.
© John MACDOUGALL / AFP
Traffic light crunch around the FDP and Olaf Scholz?
The Union attacks the Chancellor after an "incredible incident".
The FDP is trying to smooth the waves.
Berlin - Bundestag committee meetings rarely attract much public attention.
It was different on Friday morning (May 13).
Chancellor Olaf Scholz had to appear in the defense committee.
Scholz was to comment on German policy in the Ukraine war.
In the end, however, it was more about alleged or actual quarrels within the traffic light coalition
Scholz scandal in committee?
FDP "surprised how viral it all went"
Several FDP MPs are said to have left the meeting because of Scholz.
The
Bild newspaper
reported on a closed march of the FDP group.
However, the FDP politician Marcus Faber appeased in an interview with
IPPEN.MEDIA
.
Between 9.05 a.m. and 9.10 a.m. he and the three parliamentary group colleagues Alexander Müller, Christian Sauter and Lars Lindemann left the meeting.
Scholz's time on the committee was scheduled from 8 a.m. to 9 a.m.
When the FDP group left the room, the meeting was not officially over.
However, the essentials have been said.
Faber was therefore "irritated by how viral it all went".
Not as bad as you might thought?
Faber has since deleted a post on Twitter that was written around 10 a.m.
It reveals tensions between the FDP and Scholz, even if Faber does not want it to have been read as a criticism of Scholz.
"Today the Federal Chancellor had the opportunity to explain himself to the Defense Committee about Ukraine," Faber began and said: "Unfortunately, many answers were not given.
I hope that we can catch up on this.
He also complained that the chancellor had not communicated openly and clearly when he would travel to Ukraine and when, for example, the Marder and Gepard tanks would be delivered to Ukraine.
He deleted the tweet so that there were no ambiguities, said the MP from Saxony-Anhalt.
Leaving the meeting also has nothing to do with what the Chancellor said.
Marcus Faber has been a member of the German Bundestag since 2017 and is currently a member of the FDP Federal Executive Committee.
© IMAGO/Christian Spicker
Scholz in the Defense Committee: Chancellor justifies hesitant arms deliveries
The FDP MP Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann initiated Scholz's audition.
She is the chair of the defense committee and stayed in the room until the official end of the session.
Strack-Zimmermann then told
the
Rheinische Post that Faber's action was "unusual".
"I confess that I was busy chairing the session and didn't realize it," she said.
Regarding Scholz' performance, Strack-Zimmermann said on the TV station
Welt
that this was "at first a super surcharge".
The atmosphere was good.
Scholz offered to "come back too" and she thinks that makes sense.
In terms of content, Scholz gave some answers to "tough questions", praised Strack-Zimmermann.
The chancellor justified the fact that arms deliveries to Ukraine are currently being held up with repair problems.
"He said we're going to do everything we can to do that.
The problem is spare parts that were not previously purchased.
They are falling at our feet now.”
Ukraine war: Union attacks Scholz after "incredible event"
Of course, the CDU was happy to pick up the ball - and criticized Scholz for hesitant answers in the committee.
The Union defense expert Florian Hahn (CSU) told the newspapers of the Funke media group: "It was an incredible process today in the defense committee."
Referring to Faber, Hahn said the chancellor's support in the coalition was apparently "fragile".
The SPD meanwhile went into content-related aspects of the meeting.
So Scholz announced in the committee that he wanted to try to talk to Russian President Vladimir Putin.
"I have heard, heard clearly, that the chancellor has also announced a new initiative for talks with Putin," said SPD defense politician Wolfgang Hellmich.
Strack-Zimmermann meanwhile said with a view to a possible coalition dispute: "Please don't hang everything up so high." She published a photo of the meeting and said she was "glad" that Scholz had accepted her invitation.
(
as/AFP
)