Military aid for Ukraine: Ampel counters with its own application

It is the counter-proposal to the Union’s application: According to information from the traffic light coalition, there is also ARD Capital Studios a motion on the Russian war of aggression in Ukraine has now been voted on.

The traffic light coalition branded the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine as a “brutal attack on our freedom, on our common European values”: “It is an attempt to extend dictatorial rule, to push back democracy in Europe and to deny Europeans the right to a life in peace, dignity and self-determination,” reads the 10-page motion for a resolution ARD Capital Studio present. Quite sharp words then.

The draft agreed in the traffic light coalition also does not omit the controversial issue of “heavy weapons for Ukraine”: The Bundestag is calling on the federal government to “continue and, where possible, accelerate the delivery of necessary equipment to Ukraine, including the delivery of heavy weapons to expand weapons and complex systems, for example as part of the ring exchange, without endangering Germany’s ability to defend the alliance”.

The traffic light had provisionally agreed on the exchange of rings as a compromise: In concrete terms, it means that Germany will not deliver battle tanks directly to Ukraine, but that NATO countries such as Slovenia will send Soviet-made tanks to Ukraine and Germany will fill the gaps that have arisen in the partner country.

Union application continues

So the traffic light coalition is keeping all doors open when it comes to arms deliveries, but lags far behind the Union in its stance: in its own draft application, it had very clearly called for the direct delivery of heavy weapons to Ukraine from Bundeswehr stocks . Chancellor Olaf Scholz, on the other hand – unlike his traffic light coalition partners from the FDP and the Greens – has so far rejected the direct delivery of some tanks from Germany to Ukraine. The counter-proposal to the Union proposal only says: “It should be checked whether further weapons can be handed over and actively approach other countries to offer them a ring exchange”.

While the opposition is trying to increase the pressure on the governing parties with their own motion, possibly even splitting them, the traffic light wants to alleviate this pressure with its draft. Both could come to a vote on Thursday in the Bundestag.

“Cheetah” tanks to Ukraine

In several cases, the federal government has to decide whether German industry can deliver heavy weapons directly to Ukraine from their stocks: According to the dpa news agency, a fundamental decision has now been made with the application from the arms manufacturer Krauss-Maffei Wegmann. He is supposed to get permission to deliver technically refurbished Cheetah anti-aircraft tanks to Ukraine. There are other applications, including one from the Düsseldorf group Rheinmetall for the sale of Marder and Leopard tanks.