The debate over Germany’s role in the war in Ukraine is fierce and emotional. “For thirty years the Germans taught the Ukrainians about fascism. When fascism set in, the Germans sponsored it and the Ukrainians died fighting it.” wrote the renowned historian Timothy Snyder on Twitter. Former chairman of the European Council Donald Tusky ruled: “The Germans must firmly support the Ukrainians, if we are to believe that they have drawn conclusions from their own past.”
There is also criticism in the interior. It focuses on Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) and does not only come from the opposition. Greens prominent Marie-Luise Beck wrote that Germany is “on the wrong side of history.” Greens Bundestag member Anton Hofreiter, more or less the leader of the camp of Scholz critics, fears that Germany’s reticence on sanctions and arms supplies makes a third world war more likely. FDP defense spokesman Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann believes that Olaf Scholz is “losing a historic opportunity”.
‘What moves Olaf Scholz?’ is the question that is being asked with growing panic in Germany. The chancellor’s appearances are scarce, and when he comes before the microphones, he makes statements that do not allay the discomfort about the German course.
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Germany is internationally a restraining factor against tougher sanctions for Russia: Germany’s heavy reliance on Russian gas and Germany’s industry prevents Berlin from supporting a European gas import ban. According to Greenpeace estimates, this means that Germany will transfer 17.6 billion euros to Russia for gas alone this year. For oil, Germany will pay 14.3 billion to Russia until the end of this year.
At least weapons for Ukraine
The fact that Germany continues to fund Moscow encourages many to believe that it should at least do everything imaginable to support Ukraine. That’s where it falters. Ukraine asks for heavier weapons; Germany says it cannot supply it. Scholz has now given a range of arguments for this, hardly one of which is convincing.
Scholz says the Ukrainian army cannot handle the German equipment – to be solved within weeks, according to experts. Moreover, according to Scholz, the German army will need all its tanks for NATO exercises in the near future — but arms manufacturers swear they can make up for the German army’s shortages within months. Germany, which refused to supply arms to Ukraine until shortly after the start of the war so as not to anger Russia, and which is said to be reluctant to supply arms worldwide, nevertheless exported 1.51 billion euros worth of weapons in 2021.
Scholz suggests that Germany will be seen as a war party by Russia if it supplies tanks. In an interview Friday in weekly magazine of the mirror says Scholz: “I do everything to prevent an escalation that would lead to a third world war. There should be no nuclear war.” He again referred to the oath in which he promises to put the well-being of the German citizen first. “It’s not about fear, it’s about political responsibility.”
Scholz is under pressure in the cabinet. Greens ministers Baerbock and Habeck are arguing for heavier arms supplies.
For the US, Canada and the Netherlands, this concern to be seen as a war party is not an argument: those countries undertook to supply Ukraine with heavier weapons, including helicopters and howitzers (the US) and armored vehicles (the Netherlands).
Scholz is under pressure in the cabinet. Greens ministers Baerbock (Foreign Affairs) and Habeck (Economic Affairs) are calling for heavier arms deliveries.
He is further in trouble by party members who are more concerned with justifying their own Russia course of recent decades than organizing support for Ukraine. SPD Bundestag member Ralf Stegner defends the view that Ukraine cannot win the war and that heavier weapons will unnecessarily prolong the suffering of the Ukrainians. Former economy minister and party leader Sigmar Gabriel (SPD) accused Ukraine’s ambassador to Berlin, Andrej Melnyk, of conspiracy theories – the allegation was readily echoed in Russian media. On Twitter, Social Democrats argued with Melnyk. SPD party leader Rolf Mützenich accused Ukrainian diplomats of poor manners.
Nord Stream
Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania Prime Minister Manuela Schwesig (SPD) has come under fire for her role in completing Nord Stream 2. The gas pipeline arrives in the state; when the US government threatened sanctions, Schwesig set up an “Environmental and Climate Foundation” to circumvent those sanctions. Now it appears that board members of Nord Stream 2, a subsidiary of Gazprom, actively interfered with the establishment of the foundation. Nord Stream 2 invested twenty million euros in the foundation, the state itself donated 200,000 euros.
Also read this report about Ukrainian children on the run: Fled with games and hugs
On Wednesday night, a Ukrainian naval commander wrote to the newspaper de Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, allegedly from the besieged Azovstal steel factory in Mariupol, with an appeal to ‘the German people’, the Chancellor and Federal President Steinmeier. Mariupol can still be saved! The world must finally say ‘never again’ and help us.”
The eyes are on Berlin. Shortly after the start of the war, when Scholz de ‘Zeitenwende’ announced a shift in foreign and defense policy, Scholz appeared to play a leading role in the international response to the war. Two months later, those ambitions seem shriveled up.
A version of this article also appeared in NRC Handelsblad of 23 April 2022
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