Status: 05/13/2022 12:14 p.m
After Chancellor Scholz was questioned before the Defense Committee, Chairwoman Strack-Zimmermann was satisfied. There was also harsh criticism from the FDP, which was later softened.
The questioning of Chancellor Olaf Scholz before the Defense Committee of the Bundestag revealed tensions within the traffic light coalition. A group around the defense policy spokesman for the FDP parliamentary group, Marcus Faber, left the meeting early out of dissatisfaction with the Chancellor’s answers, according to participants.
Faber then wrote on Twitter that Scholz had a chance to explain himself to the Ukraine committee. “Unfortunately, many answers were not given. I hope that we can catch up,” said Faber. “His turnaround is absolutely right. It needs to be implemented promptly.”
According to information from the AFP news agency, Faber’s action was not coordinated in the FDP parliamentary group. His tweet has since been deleted. Instead, he tweeted afterwards that he had only left the committee after the meeting time. No one feels “ripped off” and no one has given a protest note.
Strack-Zimmermann satisfied with the conversation
According to the AFP, it was said from elsewhere in the group that the Chancellor’s appearance was “okay for the first round”. The chair of the defense committee, the FDP MP Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann, told the “Rheinische Post” that Faber’s action was “unusual”. “I confess that I was busy chairing the meeting and didn’t realize it.” She herself spoke of a very constructive conversation after the survey.
“The chancellor offered us to come back again to keep in touch with us,” said Strack-Zimmermann. There should be closer cooperation between the Chancellery and the Bundestag, especially with regard to possible applications for NATO membership from Finland and Sweden. Scholz has given further humanitarian, military and economic aid to Ukraine as long as the war after the Russian invasion continues.
Another phone call with Putin announced
According to participants in the meeting, the chancellor also announced that he would soon have another phone call with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Scholz emphasized that “the goal must be to restore Ukraine’s territorial integrity” and not a “standstill peace in which occupied territories are held by Russia”.