Opposition leader in German parliament slams Scholz for reluctance to supply Taurus missiles to Ukraine
The politician spoke in the Bundestag on Thursday, an Ukrinform correspondent reports.
According to Merz, "it would be good if the Chancellor explained to the public in an address why he still stands, apparently contrary to the wish of the ruling coalition factions, against the provision of the Taurus cruise missiles to the Ukrainian army."
Such supplies, Merz stressed, would be timely against the background of the U.S. government having already sent similar ATACMS missiles.
It should be noted that as the politician was speaking, Olaf Scholz, who was at the government section of the Bundestag, apparently uttered “No" to these comments.
In the speech, which followed the Chancellor's address, Merz noted that "Israel's Defense and Victory of Ukraine" were in line with Germany’s national interests the common European interests.
“Putin expects that we will be become tired and negligent in our support to Ukraine. He bets on seeing democracies and the West in general eventually becoming weaker than his autocratic, imperial government system. The European Council should send a very clear and unambiguous signal that Putin should not harbor such hopes,” Merz said.
He also noted that no matter how different wars in Ukraine and the Middle East might be, they have one thing in common: Russian state-level terror against Ukraine and Hamas Islamist terror against Israel threaten both countries, as well as Germany's security and peaceful life in Germany and in Europe. Therefore, the outcome of these wars will be of great importance not only for Ukraine and Israel, but also for Europe in general.
In his speech, Scholz spoke about the need to continue supporting Ukraine both financially and in terms of arms supplies mentioning Germany's preparation of a winter package that includes air defense capabilities.
