Does the German government not support Ukraine enough in the war against Russia? According to Federal Minister of Economics Habeck, it is correct that Berlin cannot fulfill all of Kiev’s wishes. He rejects the criticism that Germany is too reserved.
Federal Economics Minister Robert Habeck (Greens) rejects the accusation that Germany is too reluctant to help Ukraine.
He told the “Welt am Sonntag”: “As we speak, Ukrainian soldiers are being trained on the Panzerhaubitze 2000.” Germany will soon deliver these weapons to Ukraine. “So it’s by no means the case that Germany delivers nothing or too little.” It is true that Berlin cannot fulfill all of Ukraine’s wishes. “This creates a certain tension,” said Habeck.
Politicians in the traffic light government have repeatedly warned against delivering arms to Ukraine as a matter of urgency. For example, the Green MP Anton Hofreiter had repeatedly called for more speed.
Asked whether there was a tension in the red-green-yellow government on this issue, Habeck said: “It’s okay that different opinions lead to a weighing process.” But overall, a lot has happened. “I think the accusation that Germany is doing too little is as wrong as it can be explained: wrong because it’s not true. And it can be explained because, as the largest economy in the EU, we are a country from which one rightly expects a lot, and because Germany has maintained an uncritical relationship with the Russian government in recent years.” Germany built the Nord Stream 2 pipeline despite the annexation of Crimea by Russia.
The chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Bundestag, Michael Roth (SPD), said on Saturday on Deutschlandfunk on the subject of arms deliveries to Ukraine: “It’s more complicated than it sometimes seems. I don’t accuse anyone of any bad intentions. But we all now know that the Bundeswehr’s ability to deliver from its own stocks is very limited.”
One has now agreed on very complicated procedures, such as the so-called ring exchange, said Roth. “That means the countries that still have Soviet-made weapons are quickly making them available to Ukraine. We then compensate for this with our own, more modern weapons.” But here, too, there are discussions with the Eastern European partners about what kind of weapons they actually are. “These partners want the most modern equipment. But we only have that to a very limited extent.”
