Söder criticizes Pistorius: Bundeswehr not ready for war
CSU leader Markus Söder has sharply criticized Federal Defence Minister Boris Pistorius' (SPD) call for a war-ready Bundeswehr. "We think it's really good that the Bundeswehr is finally being strengthened. But we expressly do not share the Federal Government's goal of being ready and able to go to war," said the Bavarian Minister President on Monday after a meeting of the CSU Executive Committee in Munich. Germany, or rather the Bundeswehr, should be ready for defense, but not ready for war.
"We think it is a really unfortunate metaphor and also an unfortunate objective - Germany does not want to wage war, Germany wants to be able to defend itself and wants to be able to defend itself, but does not want to be ready for war," emphasized Söder.
On Sunday evening, Pistorius had shown understanding for criticism of his formulation that the Bundeswehr must become capable of war - but at the same time he had not backed away from it. "I understand if you don't like the term. It's an ugly word for an ugly thing. War is ugly," said the SPD politician on the ARD program "Bericht aus Berlin". "But if we want to prevent it, we have to say to a potential aggressor: we are capable of defending ourselves." This requires a change in mentality in Germany, including in society.
In new defense policy guidelines, which Pistorius presented last Thursday at the Bundeswehr conference in Berlin, "war capability is described as a maxim for action". Pistorius and Inspector General Carsten Breuer write in the document: "We must be the backbone of deterrence and collective defense in Europe. Our population, but also our partners in Europe, North America and the world, expect us to face up to this responsibility."
Left-wing SPD member of parliament Ralf Stegner, among others, had criticized Pistorius for the statement. The chairman of the Bundestag's European Affairs Committee, Anton Hofreiter (Greens), also distanced himself from the choice of words.
The CSU, led by Markus Söder, disagrees with the Federal Government's goal of making the German Armed Forces capable of going to war, as they believe Germany should be ready for defense, not war. Söder expressed his thoughts during a CSU Executive Committee meeting, stating that Germany wants to defend itself, but not be ready for war.
Source: www.dpa.com
