Weapons deliveries: Union criticizes SPD course

The zigzag course of the SPD causes resentment in the Union. The decision to deliver Cheetah tanks to Ukraine was correct. “But it also shows how implausible the reasoning behind the rejection was,” tweeted CDU foreign policy expert Norbert Röttgen. “Yesterday it was still said that the delivery of heavy weapons would risk World War III.”

Above all, the SPD must stop hiding behind “unspeakable arguments” that would then be arbitrarily cashed in, Röttgen explained. “This confuses everyone involved and damages trust in politics in the worst crisis since the Second World War.”

The CSU sees the back and forth of the traffic light when arms are being delivered as evidence of the chancellor’s dwindling support. The parliamentary director of the CSU state group, Stefan Müller, told the Handelsblatt: “Chancellor Scholz is a hostage of his own party and obviously does not have the trust of all governing parties.” The “irresponsible behavior” of the SPD under Olaf Scholz is currently not only damaging to Ukraine, but also Germany and its role in Europe and the world.

The CDU MEP and federal vice of the Christian Democratic Workers’ Union (CDA), Dennis Radtke, brought the vote of confidence into play. “If the Chancellor does not succeed in bringing order to his coalition, then he must ask a vote of confidence,” Radtke told the Handelsblatt.

FDP criticizes the government’s procrastination

The SPD member of the Bundestag Sebastian Roloff reacted outraged. “Anyone who wants to plunge Germany into a government crisis in such a situation is only interested in self-promotion, not in the country. That lacks any decency, ”said the co-chairman of the forum for the democratic left in the SPD (DL21) to the Handelsblatt.

The debate about arms deliveries had recently intensified within the traffic light coalition. At the weekend, the FDP defense politician Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann vehemently demanded that Ukraine should also be given heavy weapons. “Don’t procrastinate, don’t hesitate, that’s the order of the day,” said the chairwoman of the Bundestag Defense Committee at an FDP federal party conference.

FDP Vice Wolfgang Kubicki addressed the SPD directly: “The image that many representatives of the largest governing party are presenting in front of the eyes of the world public is not one that can satisfy us as coalition partners.”

Roloff reacted to the criticism with incomprehension. “The traffic light is discussing with each other about the best way in this difficult situation, which is completely normal,” he said. “It’s unfortunate that this is often happening in public at the moment, parts of the FDP seem to have to compensate for something here.”

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Gabriela Heinrich, Vice-Chairman of the SPD parliamentary group in the Bundestag, was convinced: “The traffic light coalition is united behind the course of the Federal Chancellor.” “The Chancellor faces the difficult task of supporting Ukraine in its fight against the Russian invaders and ensuring that NATO does not become a war party,” Heinrich said.

SPD accuses Friedrich Merz of “hot-headed action”.

In the application, which is available to the Handelsblatt, the SPD, Greens and FDP are in favor of “expanding the delivery of heavy weapons and complex systems, for example as part of the ring exchange, without endangering Germany’s ability to defend the alliance”.

They also require Ukrainian soldiers to be trained in Germany to teach them how to operate supplied weapons. The application is to be submitted to the Bundestag on Thursday.

On Tuesday evening, a coalition committee will also deal with the weapons issue. The SPD has been under pressure from its partners for weeks. The Union is also pushing the Social Democrats. With an application in the Bundestag on Thursday, the CDU and CSU want to force a clear positioning on the delivery of heavy weapons from the traffic lights.

>> Read also: “Tanks alone are not enough”: Hensoldt boss calls for more help for Ukraine – and praises the Greens

The parliamentary manager of the Union parliamentary group, Thorsten Frei (CDU), warned the SPD, Greens and FDP against a “half-baked compromise” with regard to the weapons issue. “This messing around on such a central issue is undignified,” Frei told the Handelsblatt. Ukraine rightly expects “massive support” in its self-defence. “Our freedom and security are also being defended in Ukraine.”

The CDU chairman Friedrich Merz reaffirmed the Union’s will to reach an agreement with the coalition on Monday evening. In the ARD “Tagesthemen” he said: “If you want us to come to an agreement, let us know. We are always ready to talk.”

More Handelsblatt articles on the war in Ukraine

However, the SPD politician Heinrich gave the Union a rebuff. “I much prefer the chancellor’s level-headed action to the hot-headed actions of Friedrich Merz, who is desperately looking for his own role in the opposition,” she said. “We are experiencing a war in the middle of Europe and the CDU has nothing better to do than get tangled up in party tactics.”

Political scientists do not expect a “serious coalition crisis”

However, the Bremen political scientist Lothar Probst does not believe that the issue of arms deliveries will lead to a “serious coalition crisis”. “If Olaf Scholz were to ask the vote of confidence after a good six months in the government coalition, he would have shot his powder before the traffic light government really started to govern,” Probst told the Handelsblatt.

The Passau political scientist Heinrich Oberreuter does not see the coalition in danger either, especially since “a more homogeneous coalition as an alternative to the existing one” is not in sight. “The fact that the Union still has to find itself is by no means an insignificant stabilizing factor for the traffic light – especially in the current challenging international crisis,” Oberreuter told the Handelsblatt.

In view of the efforts of the Union parliamentary group to force a decision on arms deliveries in the Bundestag, Probst also believes that the traffic light parties would submit their own proposal, which would have a majority in the coalition, “which in substance does not differ that much from that of the Union will”.

Nevertheless, Probst is critical of Scholz’s style of government. The crisis management from the Chancellery must “become much better”. Above all, Scholz must communicate his positions and those of his government “clearly and understandably” to the public. So far, the Vice Chancellor and Economics Minister Robert Habeck (Greens) has mainly taken on this role, while Scholz appears “closed and hesitant”.

>>Read also: German tanks in Ukraine? Heavy equipment would probably only be ready for use in winter

Probst also attested to Scholz’s lack of support in the SPD parliamentary group. “As long as the parliamentary group leader Rolf Mützenich and other leading SPD politicians are on the brakes, governing in the joint coalition will not be any easier,” he said.

Oberreuter spoke of “internal divergences with the pacifist-leaning circles around the parliamentary group leader Mützenich”. “These significantly limit the chancellor’s scope, both in the coalition and in world politics.”

More: Dispute over arms shipments – Union pressure pulls traffic lights closer together