“There will be no dictated peace because the Ukrainians will not accept it and neither will we”
“Helping a country victim of a brutal attack is not an escalation”
Chancellor Olaf Scholz has defended deliveries of heavy weapons to Ukraine against criticism from the population and politicians. “Helping to defend a brutally attacked country is not an escalation.”
Chancellor Scholz made it clear in his government statement that Germany will continue to support Ukraine in the war against Russia. The Russian president still believes he can “bomb a dictated peace”. But that will not exist.
BUndescancer Olaf Scholz (SPD) clearly rejected a dictated peace in Ukraine imposed militarily by Russia. “Putin still believes he can bomb a dictated peace. There will be no dictated peace because the Ukrainians don’t accept it and neither do we,” Scholz said in a government statement to the Bundestag.
“We all have one goal in common: Russia must not win this war, Ukraine must survive,” Scholz said. Only when Russian President Vladimir Putin realizes he cannot break Ukraine’s ability to defend itself will he be ready to seriously negotiate peace, the Chancellor said. For this, it is important to strengthen Ukraine’s defense capability.
Scholz continued to pledge German support – with sanctions against Russia, the admission of Ukrainian refugees, economic aid and “yes, also with the delivery of arms, including heavy equipment”. There is no escalation in helping a country that has been brutally attacked to take the oath. But a contribution to repel the attack and thus put an end to the violence as soon as possible,” said the SPD politician.
The criticism came from Union faction leader Friedrich Merz, who accused Scholz of playing a double game in connection with the delivery of heavy weapons. Scholz gives the impression that weapons are delivered, said the CDU chairman. “The truth is that almost nothing has been delivered from Germany in recent weeks. (…) Hardly anything is delivered,” Merz said.
For weeks, Scholz has been talking about a ring arms swap – ‘which hasn’t happened until today’, Merz criticized in view of plans to supply German arms to neighboring countries there. is if they in turn supply Ukraine with older Soviet-designed weapon systems. German arms companies have also been complaining for weeks about not getting an export license. “What double game is really playing out in your government,” Merz asked.
Scholz received support from the leader of the Greens’ parliamentary group, Katharina Dröge, who pleaded for additional military support. Putin accused them of having himself “made the food supply a tool of his war”. She called for new EU sanctions against Russia, such as decoupling banks from the international financial system and ending energy imports. An oil embargo is “the most powerful instrument we can oppose to Russia”.
Scholz assured all citizens of his support in the face of the current price increases. “We don’t leave anyone alone,” Scholz said. The security and independence of energy supply must be guaranteed, but energy must also remain affordable. The price hike caused by Russia should not overwhelm anyone at national or European level. This applies in particular to citizens with low and middle incomes.
Regarding Ukraine’s EU membership, Scholz cooled expectations. French President Emmanuel Macron is right when he points out that the accession process “is not a question of a few months or a few years”, he said. To be fair to other candidates for membership, there should be “no shortcuts” to the EU.
However, he specifically promised the Western Balkan countries membership of the European Union. Montenegro, Serbia, North Macedonia and Albania have been candidates for EU membership for many years. Mr Scholz underlined that the EU must now live up to the accession process of these countries. For June, he announced a trip to the region with the message: “The Western Balkans belong to the European Union”.