Green Party keeps Olaf Scholz at arms length over Ukraine policy

Admin I Sunday, December 01, 2024

 

BERLIN – Leaders of Germany’s Green Party have been distancing themselves from Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s Ukraine policy ahead of early parliamentary elections expected in February.

The Greens have been the main coalition partner for Scholz’s centre-left Social Democrats (SPD), but have clashed with him over what some critics describe as an overly cautious approach to aid for Ukraine.

The new Green Party Chairwoman Franziska Brantner signalled a closer alignment to conservative opposition leader Friedrich Merz, the leader of the centre-right CDU/CSU bloc, over the handling of the Ukraine conflict.

Polls give the CDU/CSU bloc a strong lead ahead of the election, expected to be held on February 23, making Merz the favourite to replace Scholz as chancellor.

Asked by the Bild newspaper what the Greens could do better with Merz than Scholz, Brantner said: “Peace, freedom in Europe and standing clearly on the side of the Ukrainians.”

Katrin Göring-Eckardt, deputy leader of the Green faction in parliament, likewise criticized Scholz’s comments at a party campaign gathering on Saturday in which he sought to portray himself as a prudent and careful leader when it comes to the war.

Scholz “has nothing to do with prudence for me. It would really be better to reflect, to support Ukraine sufficiently and thus also to protect our security and to be able to bring about sustainable peace,” Göring-Eckardt said in a post on X.

Scholz had accused Merz of taking a risky line on Ukraine policy, and suggested Merz’s stance in favour of delivering long-range Taurus missiles to Ukraine risked an escalation with the nuclear power Russia.

“I can only say be careful: you don’t play Russian roulette with Germany’s security,” said Scholz.

Many Green lawmakers have long favoured sending Taurus missiles to Ukraine.