As of: February 23, 2024, 2:11 p.m
By: Simon Schröder
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The British Prime Minister is taking his time for his first visit to Berlin.
It is questionable whether he will even show up in Germany.
London – British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak appears to be avoiding Olaf Scholz.
In the 16 months that the new leader of the Conservative Party has been in Downing Street, he has not yet appeared in Berlin.
That's surprising.
Despite phone calls between Scholz and Sunak, a visit is a long time coming
Scholz only spoke to the British Prime Minister on the phone on January 19th about the situation in Ukraine.
They agreed to continue to support Ukraine “substantially and sustainably in its fight against the Russian war of aggression,” according to a federal government press release.
But despite plenty of things to talk about and similar goals such as supporting Kiev, the Briton is not visible in the Federal Chancellery.
Scholz meeting?
So far, Richi Sunak has avoided the Chancellor.
© dpa |
Philipp Schulze + dpa/Pool Getty Images Europe/AP |
Ian Forsyth
Sunak became the new party leader and Prime Minister of Great Britain after the resignation of Liz Truss.
The fact that the British Prime Minister does not show up in Germany is a cause for concern.
Sunak has already been to Macron in France and Meloni in Italy.
Nevertheless, he neglects the German relationships - which are actually important for the British Kingdom.
Voices from Westminister Abbey are critical, Sunak should have visited Scholz long ago
A few anonymous voices about the absence of the visit have been collected
on
Politico .
A voice from the British government district put Sunak's absence into perspective as follows.
“It's an election year and he doesn't even waste more than ten minutes on the train.” The voice went on to say that British-German relations were being allowed to “slide” a bit in view of the lack of a personal visit.
A political adviser commented to
Politico
: “Sunak should have long ago made traveling to Germany a priority – as a major force in Europe and a NATO ally.
The lack of a visit by the British Prime Minister has been noted in Berlin and is met with confusion,” said the advisor.
No trace of British Prime Minister Sunak at Siko either
Sunak also failed to attend the security conference in Munich.
Instead, Grant Shapps, Defense Secretary, and David Cameron, Foreign Secretary, were there to represent British interests.
With the upcoming elections in the United Kingdom, the Prime Minister could soon change anyway.
And Scholz has better relations with the Labor Party, which is currently leading in the polls.
(SiSchr)