The Bundestag Defense Committee is meeting for a special meeting today. It’s about the “Taurus” wiretapping affair. The Union faction sees a need for far-reaching clarification.
It’s not just safety aspects that concern the Union faction. So it’s not just the question of how Russian services managed to record a conversation between high-ranking Air Force officers. But the CDU and CSU also need clarification when it comes to what was said. This is about the potential use of the German cruise missile “Taurus” in Ukraine and the actions of other allies.
The Parliamentary Managing Director of the Union faction, Thorsten Frei, said it was such an explosive matter that a non-public special meeting of the Defense Committee was absolutely necessary.
It must be clarified what information was disclosed. And how what was said fits with the Federal Chancellor’s argument. At its core, it’s always about his no to “Taurus” deliveries.
The Chancellor isn’t coming
The recording published by Russia states, among other things, that Ukrainian armed forces could use the cruise missile without the help of German soldiers. Provided that they had previously been trained accordingly by the Bundeswehr.
A statement that, according to CDU defense expert Henning Otte, does not fit with the Chancellor’s statements. He expects, said Otte in an interview with ARD capital studiothat Olaf Scholz would explain himself at the special meeting. “And clarifies the contradiction that exists: between the statement of the inspector of the German Air Force that no German soldiers were needed to deploy the ‘Taurus’ in Ukraine and the Federal Chancellor’s statement that German soldiers were needed to deploy and deliver it ‘Taurus’ in Ukraine.”
But the Chancellor isn’t coming. What some representatives of the Union see as a clear affront. There is talk of contempt of Parliament. About the fact that a committee of inquiry is probably necessary.
The “Taurus” wheel has been turning for a long time
FDP defense expert Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann, who likes to speak plainly and is a declared supporter of “Taurus” deliveries to Ukraine, urges prudence in this case.
In order not, as Defense Minister Boris Pistorius put it, to fall for Russian President Vladimir Putin. Because that, according to Strack-Zimmermann, is exactly the goal of Putin and his friends: “that we now turn a parliamentary wheel.”
But the “Taurus” wheel has been turning for a long time. The special session, which takes place behind closed doors and which, from the perspective of the Union faction, comes far too late, will be followed by the government survey in parliament on Wednesday. The Chancellor will then be available to answer questions publicly.
The Union is hoping for votes from the traffic lights
On Thursday, the Union wants to vote again on a motion calling on the federal government to immediately comply with the Ukrainian request for the delivery of “Taurus” cruise missiles.
The Union is hoping for a new boost from the discussions of the past few days – and for more votes from the traffic light coalition. Despite the Chancellor’s express no.
Christina Nagel, ARD Berlin, tagesschau, March 11, 2024 8:45 a.m