failures in the Union
Merz: Foreign and security policy “in front of a shambles”
CDU leader Friedrich Merz admits major omissions by the Union in equipping the Bundeswehr. Photo: Carsten Koall/dpa
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The CDU chairman, Friedrich Merz, has admitted that the Union has made serious mistakes in equipping the Bundeswehr and has called for a review of German foreign and security policy over the past two decades.
The CDU chairman, Friedrich Merz, has admitted that the Union has made serious mistakes in equipping the Bundeswehr and has called for a review of German foreign and security policy over the past two decades.
“In retrospect, we unfortunately have to say that all defense ministers of the last 20 years have made wrong decisions about equipment and the condition of the troops,” Merz told the “Bild am Sonntag”. “These were serious omissions, also within the Union.” From the end of 2005 to the end of 2021, the CDU and CSU occupied the Ministry of Defence. Before that, the SPD politician Peter Struck held the post from mid-2002.
Sanctions against Russia already necessary in 2014
With regard to the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine, Merz also stated: “The entire German foreign and security policy of the last 20 years is in ruins. When this war is over, we must carefully analyze how it came to be.” From the point of view of the CDU leader, by 2014 at the latest after the occupation of Crimea, “a massive sanction and isolation of Russia would have been needed”.
With a view to the German-Russian Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline and the policy of the state government in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania under Prime Minister Manuela Schwesig (SPD), Merz said that the “red swamp on the coast” had to be dried out. “If the reports are correct that Russian companies had more or less unhindered access to the state chancellery and with their help the state was also deprived of taxes, then Ms. Schwesig will not be able to hold on.”
Obviously, “this nationwide SPD-Russia network exerted massive influence, with the former Federal Chancellor (Gerhard) Schröder playing a key role, up to and including an extremely questionable foundation structure.” The State Chancellery of Schwesig was “apparently the pen was run by Russian companies, which then also donated 20 million euros without paying taxes. In Schwerin, too, they have apparently found a way around this money.”