The Chancellor put the brakes on proposals by French President Emmanuel Macron for EU treaty changes.
(Photo: IMAGO/Political Moments)
Berlin As a consequence of the Russian attack on Ukraine, Chancellor Olaf Scholz has called for rapid reform of the European Union. Majority decisions in the EU would have to be expanded and transnational energy networks expanded, he said in a government statement on Thursday in the Bundestag.
He also called for the Western Balkan states to move closer to the EU quickly, avoided committing to EU candidate status for Ukraine, but promised the country continued military aid against Russia. During the debate, opposition leader Friedrich Merz (CDU) called for the dismissal of Defense Minister Christine Lambrecht (SPD).
In the government statement at the special EU summit at the end of May, Scholz described the EU as a peace project and thus in an allusion to Russian President Vladimir Putin as the opposite of “Putin’s autocracy”.
At the turning point after the Russian attack on Ukraine, the EU needs to reform itself, become less dependent on Russian energy imports and increase its defense capability. This requires more spending on defense and in Germany the Bundeswehr special fund.
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He appealed to the CDU/CSU to agree to the planned amendment to the Basic Law. CDU leader Merz stated that the 100 billion euros should only be spent on the Bundeswehr as a prerequisite. There is still no agreement on this in the traffic light government.
Do not shorten Ukraine’s EU accession
At the same time, Scholz slowed down proposals by French President Emmanuel Macron for EU treaty changes. These are not taboo. “But if there’s one thing we don’t need at this time, it’s a controversial, time-consuming and energy-consuming navel-gazing on institutional issues,” warned the SPD politician.
Merz calls on Scholz to dismiss Lambrecht.
(Photo: IMAGO/Future Image)
Many reforms in the EU could be implemented without lengthy changes to the treaties. This includes the expansion of majority decisions in the EU demanded by Germany. The background is also the debate about the resistance of individual EU states to an oil embargo against Russia.
In the accession debate, he emphasized that there should be no compromises on EU standards during negotiations. In the case of Ukraine, they are waiting for a recommendation from the EU Commission on possible candidate status. At the same time, he stressed that the accession process is not a matter of “a few months or a few years.”
Scholz confirmed that he will not accept any special rules for Ukraine’s accelerated EU accession. “The fact that there are no shortcuts on the way to the EU is also a requirement of fairness towards the six countries in the Western Balkans,” said the SPD politician in the Bundestag on Thursday.
Montenegro, Serbia, North Macedonia and Albania have been EU accession candidates for many years, North Macedonia since 2005. The Western Balkans also include the EU aspirants Bosnia-Herzegovina and Kosovo. Scholz emphasized that the EU must now deliver when it comes to the countries’ accession process. For June he announced a trip to the region with the message: “The Western Balkans belong in the European Union.”
More aid for Ukraine
The Chancellor promised Ukraine further help to defend against the Russian attack. “Putin still believes that he can bomb a dictated peace,” emphasized. However, there will be no such dictated peace because the Ukrainians will not accept it – “and neither will we”.
This is how the Handelsblatt reports on the Ukraine war:
The chancellor added: “Only when Putin understands that, only when he understands that he cannot break Ukraine’s defenses, will he be ready to seriously negotiate peace.” weapons mean no escalation.
“There is no escalation in helping a brutally attacked country defend itself,” he said. Rather, this is a contribution to fending off the attack “and thus ending the violence as quickly as possible”. CDU leader Merz also spoke out in favor of further aid to Ukraine.
Opposition leader Merz criticized the fact that Defense Minister Lambrecht had been much more concerned with “self-defence than with defending the country” for weeks. Scholz must separate from the SPD politician. The Chancellor will have to do this anyway, so he should do it immediately.
More: Read the latest developments in the Ukraine war in the Newsblog