As of: March 2, 2024, 11:05 a.m
By: Christian Deutschländer, Mike Schier
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Olaf Scholz reiterates his conviction about Taurus deliveries.
© Emmanuele Contini/Imago
Olaf Scholz, the man of the turning point, insists on his Taurus no.
It seems as if he is basing himself on a predecessor – for election campaign reasons.
Munich/Berlin – The historic hour of major world politics strikes, of all places, at the Opernplatz in Hanover.
August 5, 2002. In the middle of summer, Gerhard Schröder announces the hot phase of the federal election campaign - the SPD has brought it forward by 18 days.
Out of sheer necessity: In surveys, the Union with candidate Edmund Stoiber is six percentage points ahead.
In the heat, 5,000 people listen to Schröder patiently, but also a little bored.
Only when the Chancellor started talking about the danger of a US-led invasion of Iraq after more than 20 minutes did things get louder.
“We are ready for solidarity.
But this country will not be available for adventure under my leadership.” The Chancellor has hit the nerve - and found the issue that will bring about a change: In September, the SPD won with a lead of 8,864 votes.
Scholz on the same campaign course as his predecessor?
History repeats itself – this one anyway.
It currently looks as if Olaf Scholz wants to copy Schröder's election campaign course 22 years later, especially with a view to the elections for Europe (June) and in the East (September).
A few weeks ago he was praising the arms deliveries to Ukraine and was photographed in an ammunition factory.
Now the steep turnaround: He conspicuously emphasizes his no to Taurus deliveries to Ukraine.
At the beginning of the week, the Chancellor met dozens of German editors-in-chief in Berlin for a background discussion - but he wanted to have his statements about why he was reluctant to supply the German weapons system explicitly quoted.
He then followed up with a video message rejecting NATO ground troops in Ukraine - a grateful submission from the French Macron.
“No German participation in the war – that applies,” he said seriously into the camera.
On Thursday evening at a citizens' dialogue in Dresden he even took up the slogan "Diplomats instead of grenades".
A citizen had said this to him.
Scholz didn't fully embrace it, but said it had to be addressed to Putin.
They want to “scan this together towards the Kremlin”.
Olaf Scholz: turnaround chancellor or hesitant?
Will the Chancellor, who first proclaimed a turning point but then always hesitated about arms deliveries, now become the prudent leader?
Members of the SPD, which has dropped to 15 percent, are openly celebrating strategic advantages.
“Olaf Scholz represents the turning point in the tradition of the SPD peace party,” said SPD member of the Bundestag Axel Schäfer to the
Tagesspiegel
.
“We will tell the citizens: We are the SPD peace party, we have a peace chancellor.” Scholz's people have been saying in small circles for months that they do not suspect the vast majority of the population to be in the hurray camp for arms deliveries.
Ralf Stegner from the far left wing of the SPD, remembering 2002, said that under a different chancellor “we would probably have been a war party long ago”.
Scholz knows the history.
As early as 2002 he was part of the SPD's inner leadership circle, and after the election he even became Schröder's general secretary.
When the advance of US troops began in March 2003, he wrote to party members in this capacity: “This is a setback for our efforts to find a peaceful solution.
It is not a refutation of our peace policy.
We will not be discouraged.”
The CDU and CSU are closely monitoring the Chancellor's moves
The Chancellor's line is strategically sensitive for the Union.
In 2002 she openly disagreed.
The young Angela Merkel published an article in the
Washington Post
: “Schröder does not speak for all Germans.” That was not successful.
Today the CDU and CSU are watching Scholz's moves closely.
They enjoy working out internal traffic light contradictions.
The very popular Defense Minister Boris Pistorius (SPD) coined the formula that Germany must become “fit for war”.
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FDP military politician Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann even voted for the Union's Taurus proposal.
And if the situation in Ukraine were to take a dramatic turn and Putin suddenly found himself in Kiev, Scholz would be left naked.
At least he would have Schröder on his side.
But it plays a very sad role in Russia policy.
The majority of Germans who he knew were on his side in 2002 have long since turned away from him.