As of: March 13, 2024, 1:30 p.m
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Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) during the federal government questioning in the German Bundestag.
© Michael Kappeler/dpa
Chancellor Scholz has explained several times in the past two weeks why he does not want to deliver Taurus cruise missiles to Kiev.
But not yet in the Bundestag.
Berlin - Chancellor Olaf Scholz has once again clearly rejected the delivery of long-range German Taurus cruise missiles to Ukraine.
“Prudence is not something that can be qualified as weakness, as some do, but prudence is what the citizens of this country are entitled to,” said the SPD politician on Wednesday in his first survey this year in the Bundestag in Berlin.
He added: “This also means that it is impossible for me to deliver long-range weapon systems that can only be meaningfully delivered if they would also involve the deployment of German soldiers outside of Ukraine.
That’s a line that I don’t want to cross as Chancellor.”
In October, Scholz rejected a Taurus delivery for the first time.
© Michael Kappeler/dpa
The Chancellor added: “And that is why I have made this decision and presented my position on this issue as you know it.” He emphasized: “I think it is necessary that when we supply weapons, we ensure that there are no weapons There is participation of German soldiers.” Scholz began his statement on the Taurus debate with the words: “I would also like to take the bull by the horns” - Taurus means bull in Latin.
He wanted to expressly say again that from his point of view it is “urgently necessary that in all decisions, especially when we are doing so much and when we are getting so many things underway, it remains central that we carefully consider every single decision weigh up.”
dpa