In the dispute over “Taurus” deliveries to Ukraine, the CDU is using sharp verbal weapons against the Federal Chancellor. Party leader Merz and foreign politician Röttgen accuse Scholz of using fear as a tool for his own politics.
Before the new vote in the Bundestag on the delivery of “Taurus” cruise missiles to Ukraine, CDU leader Friedrich Merz once again criticized Olaf Scholz. He accused the Chancellor of “playing on the German population’s fears of war.”
Ukraine’s demand for the cruise missiles has been on the table since last May. But so far Scholz has vehemently rejected this step. His main argument: The delivery could involve the deployment of Bundeswehr forces. But neither the Bundeswehr nor NATO are likely to be directly involved in the war in Ukraine.
Scholz – a “nervous” and “thin-skinned” chancellor
With regard to this argument, Merz criticized in an interview with the broadcaster RTL: “He is playing on the German population’s fears of war and at the same time declares himself to be the one who brings them under control and keeps them under control. This is not all very credible.” Scholz makes contradictory statements and the Chancellor is “extremely nervous” and “thin-skinned”.
The fear of the Russian invasion of Ukraine is entirely understandable for Merz. Everyone is afraid of an escalation of this war, the CDU leader continued. But it is precisely for this reason that Russia needs to be shown its limits. Not helping increases the risk of war, Merz warned: “If Ukraine loses, we all lose. And then war comes closer.” That’s why Germany must “help Ukraine more to win this war.”
German soldiers in “Taurus” mission “technically not necessary”
The CDU foreign politician Norbert Röttgen also called for ARD morning magazine more support for Ukraine. Germany is not doing enough to end this war. The Federal Republic must “equip and equip Ukraine with what we have” in order to be able to end “this terrible trench warfare.”
The “Taurus” cruise missiles are part of this support, emphasized Röttgen and contradicted the Chancellor’s argument that a delivery would necessarily involve deployment of the Bundeswehr. “It is clear that German soldiers are not technically necessary to use this weapon,” said the foreign politician. Röttgen countered the objections due to the long range of the cruise missiles, which would also make it possible to fire on Russian territory, by saying that the cruise missiles could be programmed so that their use could be limited to Ukrainian territory.
In his insistence against a “Taurus” delivery, Scholz had to admit that the required control over the use of the missiles was so important to him because he did not trust Ukraine, Röttgen continued.
Majority of Germans against “Taurus” delivery
A majority of the German population shares the Chancellor’s position. Recent surveys GermanyTrends showed that 61 percent of those surveyed also rejected “Taurus” deliveries – an increase of nine percentage points compared to the survey values from last August. Only 29 percent of the citizens surveyed were in favor of the deliveries.
Röttgen also sees the reason for these survey results in the Chancellor’s demeanor. “If the Chancellor of our country scares people,” talks “about nuclear war” and Germany as a possible “war party” and uses this spreading of fear as a “means and instrument of his enforcement,” then such survey results are “no surprise.”