CDU leader Friedrich Merz wants to travel to Ukraine in the coming days. The party does not want to announce an exact date for security reasons. It was said on Sunday, however, that Merz would definitely take part in the joint meeting of the CDU and CSU presidencies this Monday in Cologne before he went to Ukraine.
Merz’s chief of staff in the Union faction, Jacob Schrot, tweeted, the trip from Merz should have several messages: Germany is on the side of Ukraine, and Merz wants to underline this solidarity with his trip. And Germany’s support is “not a question of government vs. opposition,” which is why the “democratic center” in the Bundestag passed a joint motion to support Ukraine last week. In addition, Merz wanted to “listen in Kyiv and carry the specific requests for support from the Ukrainian interlocutors to Germany”.
The CDU leader had been talking for a long time that he could imagine a trip to Ukraine. His chief of staff tweeted that Merz wanted to use his planned trip to express the joint political responsibility of the government and the opposition. However, the trip is also perceived in Berlin as an attempt to further increase the pressure on the Chancellor. Olaf Scholz has not been to Ukraine since the beginning of the war – and he has not yet announced a trip.
Few German politicians have visited Ukraine since the beginning of the war. Among them were the three Bundestag committee chairmen Anton Hofreiter (Europe/Greens), Michael Roth (external/SPD) and Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann (defence/FDP).
Union wants readjustment of German foreign and security policy
In mid-April, the Ukrainian government rejected a visit to Kyiv planned by Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier and instead invited the Federal Chancellor.
Merz had condemned Steinmeier’s invitation. This was “a diplomatic affront to our head of state,” complained the CDU leader at the time. And he also criticized the Ukrainian ambassador to Germany, Andriy Melnyk. This is becoming “more and more offensive in his choice of words and more and more often leaves the space of an appropriate use of language towards his host country,” said Merz. However, because of the terrible situation in Ukraine, “one must also be lenient with President Zelenskiy and his ambassador”.
The presidiums of the CDU and CSU want to meet this Monday at 2 p.m. in Cologne for a joint retreat. It should end at 4 p.m. with a press conference by Merz, CSU boss Markus Söder and the Prime Minister of North Rhine-Westphalia, Hendrik Wüst (CDU).
A “Cologne Declaration” is also to be adopted during the exam. In the draft statement that the Süddeutsche Zeitung is available, the CDU and CSU demand a readjustment of German foreign and security policy. According to the draft, “the revisionist nuclear power and UN veto power Russia” has unilaterally given up the principle of non-violent, rule-based interaction between states, “the previous European security and peace architecture no longer exists.” The democracies of Europe are threatened by Russia and “need more than ever since 1945 the support of the USA”. Major global players like China and India would not condemn the war waged by Russia in Ukraine.
The CDU and CSU are therefore calling for the German defense forces to be adapted “to the new reality”, a comprehensive security strategy and a national security council. Germany needs “a danger radar, the country has to measure and evaluate all of its dependencies”. These included not only military threats and dangers from terrorism, but also organized crime, disinformation campaigns, climate damage and dependencies in the economy, technology, energy supply and food.