As of: March 6, 2024, 10:20 a.m
By: Wolfgang Hauskrecht
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Taurus approaching - will the Chancellor give in?
© Photomontage Daniel Löb/Andrea Bienert/dpa
“I am the Chancellor, and that’s why this applies,” said Olaf Scholz on Monday about his Taurus no.
But how final is this no?
Yesterday there were signals from the SPD that the Chancellor's veto does not have to last forever.
Nils Schmid, foreign policy spokesman for the SPD parliamentary group in the Bundestag, put it in a long sentence: “The technical, constitutional and strategic hurdles are higher than with other weapon systems.
“But that doesn’t rule out that the government will come to a different assessment in the future and decide to deliver,” he told the Bavarian media group newspapers on Tuesday.
The only red line for Scholz is: “No direct participation in the war by Germany and NATO.” At the moment, Ukrainian soldiers cannot operate the highly complex system without the help of Bundeswehr soldiers.
However, training Ukrainian soldiers on Taurus is conceivable.
“So far there has been no decision on this.
But that can change.”
The SPD foreign politician's statements come at a time when the Chancellor's stance is being criticized from many sides.
Even from the traffic lights.
On Monday, the deputy FDP leader and Bundestag Vice President Wolfgang Kubicki announced in an interview with our newspaper that he and “at least a dozen colleagues in the parliamentary group” would vote in favor of supplying the cruise missiles to Ukraine in another vote in parliament.
Union wants to vote again on Taurus deliveries
The opportunity is now coming faster than expected.
“We will put the delivery of the Taurus to the Ukrainian military up for vote again in the Bundestag next week,” CSU regional group leader Alexander Dobrindt told our newspaper.
And: “We take the FDP at its word.
I expect that the Taurus supporters from the traffic light factions will finally stand by their public demands in the Bundestag.” However, it is unlikely that a majority could ultimately support a delivery.
In the last vote, only 182 MPs voted for and 480 against.
The AfD and the former Left also reject delivery.
Former NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen criticized Scholz as too hesitant in an interview published on Tuesday in the Swiss “Neue Zürcher Zeitung”.
In times of war, one cannot lead by following public opinion.
“We need a much more determined German government.” Scholz “doesn’t seem like a leader,” said Rasmussen.
“I don’t understand why Germany doesn’t deliver Taurus.” Rasmussen went on to say that an invitation should be extended to Ukraine to join NATO as soon as possible.
Anything else would send the wrong signal to Putin.
Macron calls for more courage: “Don’t be a coward”
French President Emmanuel Macron also called for more courage.
“We are certainly approaching a moment in our Europe when it is appropriate not to be cowardly,” Macron said in Prague on Tuesday.
The war has returned to European soil.
It is Europe's responsibility to do justice to this.
Macron said last week that he was not ruling out the use of NATO ground troops in Ukraine.
Scholz vehemently contradicted this.
In view of the Franco-German tensions, Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock (Greens) tried to smooth things over shortly before her visit to Paris.
“Deep friendship is expressed above all in the fact that when you have different opinions, you continue to pull together and nothing can separate you,” she said yesterday in Sarajevo.