Germany’s Scholz doubles down on opposition to Taurus missile delivery to Ukraine
Germany’s Chancellor Olaf Scholz on Wednesday (13 March) yet again cited the need for the involvement of German soldiers as an obstacle to the delivery of long-range missiles to Ukraine, amid growing question marks about the motivation behind his objection.
Over the past weeks, Scholz has dug in when it comes to the delivery of German long-range Taurus missiles to Ukraine, despite Western allies such as France and the UK having delivered homemade models and offered support to facilitate German deliveries.
With their unique 500-kilometre range and extraordinary precision, military experts say Taurus missiles would provide a significant boost to Ukraine’s military capabilities.
As German lawmakers pressed the chancellor in the Bundestag on Wednesday ahead of Thursday’s vote on the matter, Scholz doubled down on his resistance.
“It is out of the question for me to supply far-reaching weapons systems that can only be sensibly supplied if they would involve the deployment of German soldiers,” Scholz said when quizzed on the reasons behind his decision.
“That is a red line that I don’t want to cross as chancellor,” he said, adding that his “prudence should not be qualified as weakness”.
Scholz has repeatedly argued that the deployment of German soldiers would be required to restrict the range of Taurus missiles to prevent an undue attack on targets in Russia.
Controversially, he has insinuated that such a deployment would risk making Germany part of the conflict in Ukraine due to national laws, unlike in France and Britain.
Question marks over motivation
However, Western allies as well as a significant part of German lawmakers and military staff have questioned Scholz’s justification, including UK Foreign Minister David Cameron who expressed doubts during a visit to Berlin last week.
Cameron said his government was open to facilitating the delivery through a multilateral exchange, which would see Britain deliver more of its stocks to Ukraine and replenish them with German missiles.
Yet, as Scholz publicly ruled out this option earlier this week, open questions remain over other factors that could be driving his opposition to the step.
Alexander Müller (FDP, Renew), a leading member of the German Bundestag’s defence committee, told Deutschlandfunk that the body had received “information for the first time (…) why Scholz thinks that way” during a secret session on Monday.
“There are one or two things, that cannot be discussed publicly, that rightly make him hesitant,” Müller said.
Notably, Scholz accused opposition lawmakers on Wednesday of instrumentalising the topic of Taurus despite “knowing everything” about the reasons, while capitalising on the fact that this “knowledge is not public knowledge”.
German media have also speculated that the reason could be Scholz’s fear of an impending Russian victory.
Germany would then need the Taurus missiles itself to help deter Russia from extending the campaign beyond Ukraine, as Germany’s depleted armed forces could hardly serve as deterrence, the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung wrote.
German opposition parties CDU/CSU are keeping the topic on the agenda by tabling another parliamentary vote on the matter for Thursday, with at least one government MP considering breaking ranks.
Germany’s Scholz pressed by own coalition to provide long-range missiles for Ukraine
Pressure mounted on German Chancellor Olaf Scholz to send Taurus missiles to Ukraine as lawmakers from his governing coalition voted on Thursday (22 February) for a resolution to deliver “long-range weapon systems” to Ukraine.
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