As of: February 27, 2024, 3:30 p.m
By: Bettina Menzel
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The profile of Federal Chancellor Olaf Scholz on the platform X (formerly Twitter) in 2022. © IMAGO/imageBROKER/Mara Brandl
In the Taurus debate, Chancellor Scholz now spoke out.
But his argument against the delivery failed the fact check - and Platform X added a note to his post.
Berlin - Ukraine has been fending off Russian attacks for over two years - and is increasingly battling a lack of ammunition, air defense and long-range weapons at the front.
Meanwhile, Germany has been debating the delivery of Taurus cruise missiles for months.
In a vote in the Bundestag last Thursday (February 22), the majority of parliamentarians were in favor of “long-range” weapons for Ukraine.
However, Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) clearly rejected a Taurus delivery.
He argued that Germany did not want to become a party to the war - Platform X felt compelled to add context.
Platform
On Monday, Chancellor Scholz reiterated his rejection of the delivery of these cruise missiles.
“We will not become a warring party – neither directly nor indirectly.
These two principles guide all my decisions,” he wrote on the platform X (formerly Twitter) and added the hashtag #Taurus.
The problem with this is that the statement could be understood as a reference to the programming discussion about the Taurus.
X users added background information, which is why the Chancellor's post was given a note.
Until now, this has been reserved for messages from populists like former US President Donald Trump.
“It is not correct that German soldiers are needed on Ukrainian soil for the Taurus deliveries.
The French and British systems Storm Shadow and Scalp are used by Ukraine without the countries becoming parties to the war,” is now written on X as context for Scholz’s statement.
This is what defense politicians and military experts say about Scholz's statement
FDP defense politician Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann confirmed that the Chancellor was wrong when he claimed that Bundeswehr soldiers would have to go to Ukraine to prepare this weapon.
That's simply not true, the Chancellor is looking for excuses, said the FDP politician, who was stunned by the decision, in an interview with Welt TV.
“If that is the Chancellor’s answer, then it is more than bizarre,” added Strack-Zimmermann in the ARD program Report from Berlin.
Former NATO general Erhard Bühler also contradicted the statement that the Taurus cruise missiles could only be programmed by German experts on site.
“The Taurus missile carries a digital, three-dimensional atlas as one of its navigation systems,” explained the military expert in his podcast “What to do, General?”
During programming, the flight path and destination would then be entered into the atlas.
“We see that the Ukrainian soldiers manage to direct drones into the Leningrad or Moscow region.
Then, after appropriate training, they will also be able to program the Taurus,” concluded the ex-NATO general, who considers a Taurus delivery to be an “operational necessity” in the Ukraine war.
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Power lies with the executive, but it “cannot act against the parliamentary majority in the long term”
The Chancellor's latest Taurus statement was preceded by a vote in the Bundestag on further arms deliveries to Ukraine.
However, an explicit Taurus proposal from the Union was rejected in the Bundestag, although the traffic light proposal, which contained the phrase “long-range” weapons, received approval.
Although only the executive has decision-making power on this issue, the vote is still considered an important opinion piece.
“In the long term, a federal government cannot act against its own parliamentary majority in the Bundestag,” commented former NATO general Bühler.
It will be “exciting to see which far-reaching weapon systems were in view when making the traffic light proposal.”
Bühler continues that he doesn't see a large selection.
The military expert rules out a Taurus ring exchange for the British and Storm Shadow for the Ukraine, since the British Eurofighters are not capable of carrying the Taurus, as tests by the Bundeswehr have shown.
The Atacams would be conceivable, provided there was a resolution from the US House of Representatives.
According to a survey, a majority of the German population is in favor of more arms deliveries to Ukraine, even if the Taurus is not directly mentioned in the question: According to the current ZDF political barometer, 62 percent of Germans were in favor of more support for Ukraine.
That is eleven percentage points more than in the last survey in January.