In times of upheaval, polls of the Federal Chancellor by the Bundestag provide, if nothing else, at least the certainty that not everything will change. In the tradition of his predecessor, Olaf Scholz did not let himself be disturbed by questions or inquiries on Wednesday. Here and there he ironically took AfD deputies to his chest and otherwise routinely parried. Parliament’s privilege is to interrogate the Chancellor. It is within the Chancellor’s discretion to answer in his own way – so when in doubt, not at all. However, Olaf Scholz missed another chance to explain himself. The parliament, the population, the allies and, above all, Ukraine.
Increasingly, it seems as if Scholz is trudging behind the turning point that he himself announced in the Bundestag more than a month ago. Nobody got to the point better than the chancellor himself. When asked again and again about the arms deliveries from Germany, which Ukraine had complained about as being slow, the chancellor pointed out that action was being taken in complete agreement with the allies. Germany is not pushing ahead. In fact, it’s probably the last reproach the federal government would be leveled with – that it’s running wild when it comes to heavy weapons for Ukraine or sweeping energy sanctions against Russia.
Scholz himself also named the contradiction that results from this. He made it clear that the goal must be that Russia does not win the war against Ukraine. Under the impression of the Russian war of aggression, which was waged with terrible brutality, and the appalling war crimes committed in Bucha, there can be no other goal. If Ukraine loses the war, it loses everything. As cynically as the Moscow propaganda denies the individual crimes, it is incredibly blunt in articulating a Russian will to annihilate that will find new victims after the Ukraine. If the word turning point is to have a meaning, then it means that the danger emanating from a fascist-acting regime in Moscow has been understood.
Ukraine needs heavy weapons. does she get it
Scholz likes to point out that the traffic light has taken a turn for arms deliveries like no other federal government before it. That’s true, but – with all due respect – it’s irrelevant. The essence of the turning point consists precisely in the fact that things are and must be done that were previously thought impossible. So the question must be how to help Ukraine to win the war against the Russian aggressor. Neither Germany nor any other NATO state will actively intervene against the nuclear power Russia. But Ukraine is all the more dependent on heavy weapons such as tanks. According to everything that is known so far, Germany has so far lagged behind what a number of other allies are delivering.
Olaf Scholz promised Ukraine the best possible support in the Bundestag and he spoke of unprecedented speed. Due to the allegedly required secrecy, this is not easy to understand. But that is not the point. It is more important whether Scholz can look Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy in the face during the next video call.