Who will decide on Taurus cruise missiles for Ukraine?

Should “Taurus” cruise missiles be delivered to Ukraine? The Bundestag is debating this today. The Chancellor hesitates, the opposition pushes, and the traffic light factions don’t really agree. What is it about? An overview.

The traffic light coalition continues to have difficulty finding a common line on the question of whether “Taurus” cruise missiles should be delivered to Ukraine. Today the Bundestag is debating it. Two motions are to be submitted: While the traffic light parties SPD, Greens and FDP rather generally demand the “delivery of additionally required long-range weapon systems”, the CDU/CSU opposition explicitly mentions “Taurus” in their motion.

The Ukrainian side had already made an official request to the federal government in May last year for a delivery of the “Taurus” cruise missiles with high accuracy and a range of 500 kilometers. The debate has been simmering ever since.

Who actually decides about “Taurus”?

In principle, it is not the Bundestag that is responsible for arms exports, but rather the Federal Security Council, which meets in secret. In addition to the Chancellor, members include the Foreign Minister, the Defense Minister and the Finance Minister.

But the Federal Chancellor is decisive. He has the authority to direct the federal government’s policies and his ministers will not overrule him on the important “Taurus” issue.

Why is she hesitating? Federal government?

There are apparently concerns that the cruise missiles, with a range of 500 kilometers, could strike Russian territory. That would be legal under international law. And technical questions regarding the use of the “Taurus” cruise missiles by the Ukrainians also appear to be solvable.

Government spokesman Steffen Hebestreit emphasized again yesterday that there are three criteria for arms deliveries: Germany and NATO must not become parties to the war, there is close coordination with international partners – especially the USA – and the government supports Ukraine with the material , the submission of which is necessary and responsible for German security interests.

However, it is unclear, for example, whether the Bundeswehr actually still has 600 functional cruise missiles. It is also unclear whether the Bundeswehr can give up the “Taurus” or whether, for example, NATO regulations speak against it. Ultimately, however, we don’t know down to the last detail the motives of Chancellor Olaf Scholz as to why he doesn’t want to deliver “Taurus” yet.

Why is there controversy about this?

There are very different opinions within the traffic light coalition about how to deal with “Taurus”. The FDP politician and chairwoman of the Defense Committee, Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann, recently caused irritation. Because she also wants to vote for a proposal from the opposition, more precisely the Union, to supply Taurus cruise missiles to Ukraine.

This brought her severe criticism from the ranks of the SPD and the Greens. After all, the traffic light coalition had actually previously agreed on its own motion that called for long-range and heavy weapons systems for Ukraine. However, “Taurus” cruise missiles are not specifically named in the application.

How united are the SPD, Greens and FDP?

It’s not just Strack-Zimmmermann’s announcement that shows very different attitudes within the government coalition. There is also disagreement about how the joint proposal should be understood.

The Green Party European politician Anton Hofreiter told “Spiegel” that it was completely clear that the wording in the application was aimed at the “Taurus” cruise missiles. “I expect the Chancellor to implement what the traffic light factions tell him to do. The only consequence of this proposal can be that he releases the ‘Taurus’.”

The foreign policy spokesman for the SPD parliamentary group, Nils Schmid, said in the “Tagesspiegel”: “The Bundestag is not ultimately calling on the government to immediately deliver cruise missiles, but is not ruling anything out for the future if the government decides to weigh things up differently than should arrive at the moment.”

Scholz has so far rejected a “Taurus” delivery, but has not ruled it out forever. “This position is now also reflected in the application, which was closely discussed with the Chancellery,” said Schmid.

What kind of weapon system is this? Cruise missiles “Taurus”?

The “Taurus” cruise missile is around five meters long and weighs almost 1,400 kilograms. It is equipped with its own engine and several navigation systems that enable autonomous low-level flight through enemy territory. This means that the cruise missiles can be fired from fighter aircraft from a safe distance during war and can hit and destroy targets up to 500 kilometers away.

Since the cruise missiles fly particularly low and are relatively small, they are difficult to hit by enemy air defenses. The Bundeswehr has had the “Taurus” weapon system since 2005. It can be used with the “Tornado” and “Eurofighter” fighter aircraft. The manufacturer is a subsidiary of the defense company MBDA.

The “Taurus” cruise missile is the German-Swedish counterpart to the British-French cruise missiles “Storm Shadow” and “Scalp”, which were developed in parallel.

With information from Uli Hauck, ARD capital studio and the dpa news agency.