In the Bundestag the motion Defend peace and freedom in Europe. Comprehensive support to Ukraine it obtained 586 votes in favor, one hundred against and seven abstentions. “It is never an easy decision to supply arms”, but “there must also be no ‘wrong behavior’,” said Agnieszka Brugger, vice-president of the Greens parliamentary group.
The German House of Parliament, the Bundestag, approved the idea of handing over heavy weapons to Ukraine.
Specifically, it is the motion entitled Defend peace and freedom in Europe. Comprehensive support to Ukraine.
The text, presented jointly by the parliamentary groups of the government coalition of Social Democrats, Greens, Liberals and by the opposition conservative bloc received 586 votes in favor and one hundred against, with seven abstentions.
The parliamentary groups behind the motion ask the German government to support all the efforts of the Ukrainian Executive to reach a ceasefire in the interest of Ukraine in direct negotiations with Russia and, in the event of an agreement, to help guarantee compliance with the partners of NATO and the European Union (EU).
They also insist that the supply of the necessary equipment to Ukraine must continue and, as far as possible, be accelerated, and that expand delivery of heavy weapons and complex systems, without jeopardizing Germany’s defensive capabilities within the Alliance.
The conservative bloc finally chose to give up presenting its own motion and join the modified proposal of the parliamentary groups of the tripartite government.
Merkel’s party criticizes Chancellor Olaf Scholz
In the debate prior to the vote, the leader of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), Friedrich Merz, criticized that for weeks Chancellor Olaf Scholz has avoided giving clear answers in the debate about the supply of heavy weapons to Ukraine.
He affirmed that this attitude has nothing to do with “prudence”, but with “indecision and fear” and was convinced that with a consensus position of the Government, this motion or its debate would not have been necessary.
“The chancellor’s problem was not and is not the opposition, it was and is the criticism in his own ranks,” he added.
On the other hand, he pointed out that everyone knows that the violence of arms in such a conflict should only be the “last resort” and constitutes at the same time “the recognition of the failure of diplomacy and the search for a political solution.”
He also warned that if Ukraine does not receive the necessary help, this lack of assistance will be interpreted “as in the past” as “weakness and reluctance” and that after Ukraine it could fall to other countries and regions.
“Starting today, the federal government can rely on a large vote in the Bundestag and supply Ukraine with the weapons it needs and which we will make available to it.”He concluded his speech.
Social Democrats and Greens justify delivery of heavy weapons to Ukraine
The co-president of the Social Democrats, Lars Klingbeil, for his part valued the vote on the joint motion of “clear and unequivocal signal from the center of the Bundestag” that the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, must put an end to this war of aggression.
The vice president of the Greens parliamentary group, Agnieszka Brugger, stressed that “it is never an easy decision to supply weapons”, but he warned that “there should also be no “wrong behavior”.
The president of the liberal parliamentary group, Christian Dürr, stressed that “Germany must live up to its responsibility” and this is what this joint motion expresses, he added.
He pointed out that with his war of aggression, the head of the Kremlin has put an end to the old world order, adding that this will break economic relations with Putin’s Russia and strengthen relations with liberal democracies around the world.