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Chancellor Olaf Scholz in front of a "Leopard 2" tank (last October at the Bergen military training area): No going it alone
Photo: Björn Trotsky / IMAGO
German armored personnel carriers or even main battle tanks for Ukraine?
So far, Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) has rejected such demands, pointing out that one must coordinate with the allies and that Germany should not go it alone.
So far, Germany has only delivered Western anti-aircraft gun tanks of the “Gepard” type.
But now the situation has changed.
France has announced that it will deliver Western-style reconnaissance tanks to Ukraine.
In addition, considerations of the US government became public, the Ukraine weapons aid with armored personnel carriers of the "Bradley" type
to top up
This increases the pressure on Scholz – from the ranks of the traffic light coalition, but also in his own party, which has so far mostly supported the cautious course of their chancellor.
The decision "should bring more movement into the German discussion again," SPD defense politician Andreas Schwarz told SPIEGEL.
»It is an opportunity to coordinate the next level of support for Ukraine with Western partners.
Germany should take the initiative as further shipments will require a lead in training and supply chain building.”
Are the Social Democrats now tipping, is the chancellor tipping, as far as the battle tank issue is concerned?
So far, Scholz and his confidants have put a lot of effort into justifying their no.
But the announcements from Paris and the deliberations in Washington question the German government's approach.
It was striking on Thursday how much the Social Democrats suddenly emphasized that they did not want to rule anything out.
"The Chancellor is in close talks with special partners and friends and that will continue to be the case," said SPD chairwoman Saskia on Esken RTL / ntv.
»And then we will also make corresponding decisions.«
»Germany should take the initiative«
SPD defense politician Andreas Schwarz
There are also new accents in the parliamentary group.
"I welcome the announcements by the United States and France that they want to deliver reconnaissance tanks to Ukraine, among other things," said foreign policy expert Adis Ahmetovic.
“Ukraine will only be able to achieve success from a position of strength – including in diplomatic negotiations.
The developments from the wars after the collapse of the former Yugoslavia in the early 1990s also teach us this.
For this reason we will continue to support our Ukrainian partners with all our might.
Should there be any tank deliveries from Germany, this will take place in cooperation and in consultation with our European and transatlantic partners.«
The SPD member of parliament and Bundeswehr officer Johannes Arlt expressed reservations.
A delivery of German main battle tanks - regardless of the considerations of other countries - can only be considered if "the delivered platforms in the Bundeswehr's inventory can be replaced at short notice and 1:1," Arlt told SPIEGEL.
Arlt is »rather skeptical about a delivery of German battle tanks.
I would wish that we would also get ahead with initiatives in terms of talks between the two warring parties«.
»The argument of going it alone finally reduced to absurdity«
More specifically, representatives of the Greens and FDP.
“With the announcement by the French government that it would be supplying scout tanks, the argument of going it alone has finally been reduced to absurdity.
Scholz has to end his blockade now," Anton Hofreiter told SPIEGEL.
"Now at the latest" is the time for the chancellery to deliver Leopard 2 tanks, "preferably as a European initiative," said the Green member of the Bundestag.
The FDP politician Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann, chairwoman of the defense committee, also welcomes the delivery of French light battle tanks to Ukraine.
»In the spirit of Franco-German friendship, the Federal Chancellor must finally recognize the signs of the times and follow suit.
The ball is now in Berlin,” Strack-Zimmermann told SPIEGEL.
»The argument constantly put forward by the Federal Chancellery that Germany should not go it alone is absolutely over and out of date.
It was never true either."
Since spring 2022, the Greens and FDP have accused the chancellor of being too hesitant to support Ukraine with weapons.
Scholz had always publicly emphasized that he would coordinate closely with Germany's allies when supplying heavy weapons.
»We will not go it alone.
Germany will act no differently than other countries,” the chancellor said in April and then repeated this argument many times.
The Greens, FDP and the opposition Union accused him of putting forward these reasons because he had allowed himself to be intimidated by Russia's dictator Vladimir Putin.
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