Kiesewetter: Scholz can, but he doesn't want to
Chancellor Scholz refuses to supply Ukraine with Taurus cruise missiles. Government circles have been saying for weeks that this is partly due to unresolved legal issues. Now it turns out that the German government is doing nothing to clarify such issues.
CDU defense expert Roderich Kiesewetter accuses the German government of "deliberately deceiving parliament, the population and partners" on the Taurus issue. This is the conclusion Kiesewetter draws from the German government's answer to a question he submitted.
The German Taurus cruise missile has been requested by Ukraine since May. For five months, Federal Chancellor Olaf Scholz did not respond to the request from Kiev, then came the refusal in October. With reference to "pseudo-legal sham arguments", as Kiesewetter tells ntv.de.
"There were never any legal questions about Taurus"
According to reports, Scholz had explained behind closed doors in the Foreign Affairs Committee that France and the UK, who both support Ukraine with cruise missiles of a similar design and from the same manufacturer, could do something "that we are not allowed to do". This meant that the question of a delivery did not arise. The Chancellor was not more specific before the MPs, but other SPD politicians also repeatedly raised legal ambiguities.
However, in response to an inquiry to the Federal Government, Kiesewetter has now been informed that no expert opinion has been commissioned since May that would clarify any open legal questions regarding the Taurus delivery. "With the answer to my inquiry, the Federal Government is now making it clear that there were never any legal issues with Taurus," says the CDU politician. "Because otherwise a legal opinion would have been drawn up." For Kiesewetter, the question arises as to "how the ministers would have wanted to clarify allegedly unresolved issues and why no expert opinion has been produced since May".
Among other things, concerns had been expressed in government circles that Bundeswehr soldiers would be needed on the ground in Ukraine to program Taurus. This would not actually be possible without a Bundestag resolution and would also cross a red line drawn by all NATO states, as Germany could thus become a party to the war. Shortly before Scholz's subsequent decision, Defense Minister Boris Pistorius had pointed out that Germany would have to weigh up the consequences of every step.
However, a legal assessment based on expert opinions has apparently not taken place. Kiesewetter sees this as confirmation of what he considers to be the "obvious": "The Federal Chancellor is denying Ukraine the necessary and effective weapons systems such as Taurus with full political intent. Neither out of consideration nor out of prudence, but with full political will."
Security expert Gustav Gressel also believes that the legal concerns cited against a Taurus delivery are not valid. The support of Bundeswehr soldiers in Ukraine is also not necessary in order to program Taurus. "There are other countries that also use Taurus, such as Sweden, Spain and South Korea. No permanent Bundeswehr contingent is needed there either, neither for navigation data nor for the integration of the cruise missile into existing systems."
The BND also supplies data to Ukraine
The German cruise missile requires more data than the British and French variants Storm Shadow and SCALP. "But there is a protocol for the exchange of sensitive data," says Gressel, who conducts research at the European Council on Foreign Relations. Ukraine also receives data from the Federal Intelligence Service, for example from satellite reconnaissance. "There is already a protocol for other data formats. So it is purely a question of protocol how to provide Ukraine with the geodata for the Taurus."
According to Gressel, the integration into existing systems is handled by the manufacturing company. "In order to clarify how to hang the cruise missile under Ukrainian aircraft, the manufacturer's personnel in Ukraine can look at what the British and French have built for Storm Shadow and SCALP and to what extent this can be used for Taurus."
For Gressel, the reason for the Chancellery's refusal to supply Taurus to Ukraine is primarily an emotional one. "When you see the headquarters of the Russian Black Sea Fleet going up in smoke after a Storm Shadow attack, those are iconic images," says the military expert. "No matter how the war ends, these images will appear in every history book about it." Scholz and large sections of the SPD did not want German weapons to produce images of this kind or be associated with them. "You can't explain that rationally," says Gressel. "That's where their blockades come from."
From the point of view of defence politician Kiesewetter, Scholz lacks the will to prevent Russia from establishing further supply lines in Ukraine and continuing to terrorize the civilian population. "He doesn't want Ukraine to liberate its territory." The CDU politician sees the chancellor's strategy of not communicating this openly as "an astonishingly perfidious attempt to deceive parliament, the population and international partners". Gressel takes a similar view: "The British and French are just scratching their heads at what is being said here in Berlin."
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Source: www.ntv.de
