Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock is open to the suggestion of her British colleague David Cameron to provide Ukraine with new cruise missiles through a ring exchange. “That would be an option,” said the Green politician on Sunday evening in the ARD program Caren Miosga. She pointed out that such a ring exchange had already taken place with other material.
Cameron had in an interview with the South German newspaper expressed its intention to “work closely with our German partners to help Ukraine.” Cameron also believes that a ring exchange is possible, which could allay the concerns of Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD). Scholz rejects the delivery of the Taurus missiles with a range of 500 kilometers to Ukraine because he fears that this could drag Germany into the war.
In an exchange of rings, Germany could give Taurus cruise missiles to Great Britain – and the government in London could in turn give further Storm Shadow missiles to them Ukraine delivery. Scholz had already resorted to barter as an indirect variant of military aid at the beginning of the Ukraine war, when he did not yet want to send Leopard 2 main battle tanks to Ukraine.
Anton Hofreiter is considering approving the Union proposal
Baerbock made it clear that she would support Taurus deliveries. She had already made it clear in the summer that Ukraine needed extensive weapons systems with a view to the mine belt in the east of the country, she said and, when asked, added: “in brackets: also Taurus.” This also included, for example, rocket launchers and self-propelled howitzers that Germany had already delivered. This question has actually already been discussed.
The Union wants to submit another motion in the Bundestag on Thursday calling on the federal government to hand over Taurus cruise missiles to Ukraine “immediately”. The Green Party politician Anton Hofreiter does not rule out voting for the opposition motion. “I haven’t decided yet,” Hofreiter told the news portal on Sunday The Pioneer.
There are signs that this motion could also be supported by other politicians in the traffic light coalition. The FDP defense politician Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann announced her approval – similar to a similar Union proposal two weeks ago. The deputy FDP leader Wolfgang Kubicki wants his vote loudly Rhenish Post depend on the wording of the application.
FDP General Secretary Bijan Djir-Sarai warned against shortening the discussion. It’s about war in Europe, it’s about very complex issues that shouldn’t be discussed in small, party-political terms in the German Bundestag, he emphasized in the ZDF broadcast Berlin directly. At the same time, he assured: “There are no changing majorities in the German Bundestag. If there were changing majorities, a coalition would be obsolete, so the question does not arise.”