As of: April 7, 2024, 11:52 a.m
By: Victoria Krumbeck
Comments
Press
Split
The criticism of Chancellor Scholz regarding the Taurus delivery does not subside. FDP politician Strack-Zimmermann accuses the Chancellor of election campaign tactics.
Berlin – Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s (SPD) “no” to the Taurus delivery to Ukraine continues to be hotly debated. The FDP defense politician Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann described the tough discussion as a “catastrophe for Ukraine”. Scholz has previously argued that German soldiers would be necessary to participate in the Ukraine war if Germany were to deliver Taurus cruise missiles to Ukraine.
Strack-Zimmermann on Scholz’s Taurus decision: “Deadly for the Ukrainians”
With the Taurus delivery, Russian supplies could have been “interrupted at an early stage,” explained Strack-Zimmermann in an interview with the
Lübecker Nachrichten
in the
editorial network Germany
. The discussion, which has been going on for ten months, ensures that “the Russians will also prepare for this and move their supply routes from the Kerch Bridge in Crimea to another route.” That was foolish and “deadly for Ukrainians,” she said.
FDP politician Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann criticizes Chancellor Olaf Scholz for his Taurus attitude (archive photo). © Bernd von Jutrczenka/dpa
The chairwoman of the Defense Committee draws parallels with the “nine-month-long debate about whether or not Germany will deliver infantry fighting vehicles and battle tanks to Ukraine,” said the politician. “In the meantime, the Russian army had dug hundreds of kilometers of trenches in eastern Ukraine and packed them with mines in order to prevent a possible Ukrainian counter-offensive with the corresponding tanks,” explained the FDP leading candidate for the European elections.
Taurus decision just an election campaign tactic? – Strack-Zimmermann rejects the AfD and BSW
When asked whether Scholz's Taurus attitude could have something to do with the election campaign, Strack-Zimmermann replied: "I hardly think so." Scholz, like Angela Merkel at the time, is guided by polls on a daily basis. She is of the opinion that “we have to make decisions, not based on surveys. It’s our job to make decisions based on the situation and then explain them to people.”
She is ruling out future cooperation with parties that criticize German support for Ukraine. Strack-Zimmermann clearly rejected speculation about the FDP collaborating with parties from the right and left: “There will never be any collaboration. Neither with the AfD nor the BSW,” she said.
(vk)