Visit to Washington
“Like a visit from a petitioner”: Merz railed against Scholz
Before Olaf Scholz’s trip to the USA, CDU leader Friedrich Merz accused the Chancellor of hesitant foreign policy
© Bernd von Jutrczenka / DPA
Shortly before the Chancellor’s visit to Washington, he had to take a violent attack from Friedrich Merz. “Olaf Scholz neither provides leadership nor does he have a clear opinion on the critical issues,” said the CDU leader.
CDU leader Friedrich Merz accused Chancellor Olaf Scholz of hesitant foreign policy in dealing with the Ukraine crisis before his visit to Washington. “This trip comes too late,” said Merz of “Bild am Sonntag”. “It would have been necessary weeks ago and then with a clear message from the most important European countries in the luggage.”
Now the trip seems “like the visit of a petitioner who can no longer get out of a situation that he is to blame for and therefore has to ask his big brother in Washington for help,” said Merz. Under Scholz as chancellor, Germany “apparently likes its role as an outsider, as a naysayer and inhibitor of a European strategy”.
He was amazed “how poorly this government is taking hold,” added the CDU leader. Scholz’ “speechlessness” made him “stunned”. “Olaf Scholz neither provides leadership nor does he have a clear opinion on the critical issues. In the midst of the greatest threat to peace and freedom in Europe, the Chancellor has largely disappeared.”
Friedrich Merz for European arms deliveries to Ukraine
Merz also spoke out in favor of European arms deliveries to Ukraine. “Weapons deliveries from Germany alone are out of the question,” he said. “But a joint European delivery of defense weapons to Ukraine would be conceivable from my point of view.”
Unlike other NATO partners, the German government is refusing to deliver arms to Ukraine. In their coalition agreement, the Ampel parties had agreed not to deliver weapons to crisis regions.
Scholz travels to Moscow
Scholz will be received by US President Joe Biden in the White House on Monday for an inaugural visit. The central topic of the meeting will be the Ukraine crisis. Scholz will then meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow on February 15.
According to Western sources, Russia has gathered more than 100,000 soldiers and heavy equipment on the Ukrainian border. The West therefore fears a Russian attack on the neighboring country. Russia rejects the allegations and at the same time states that it feels threatened by NATO.