“Incompetence, sloppiness, total failure”: The deputy leader of the Union parliamentary group, Johann Wadephul, accuses the traffic light coalition of violating the Bundestag decision to deliver heavy weapons to Ukraine. He calls the government’s reference to alleged agreements with NATO “unfounded”.
The deputy chairman of the CDU/CSU parliamentary group in the German Bundestag, Johann Wadephul, accuses the federal government of violating the Bundestag decision on arms deliveries to Ukraine, which is being attacked by Russia.
Wadephul told FOCUS Online this Wednesday: “The Bundestag has asked the federal government to deliver the necessary heavy weapons without restrictions. That doesn’t happen. In doing so, the federal government is violating a binding decision by parliament.” Wadephul spoke of a scandalous process and announced: “If things continue like this, there will be a committee of inquiry later!”
With his massive criticism of the federal government, Wadephul reacts to statements made by the parliamentary state secretary in the Federal Ministry of Defense, Siemtje Möller (SPD). In an interview with “Berlin Direkt” on ZDF, Möller surprisingly declared that German deliveries of heavy weapons were not possible due to NATO agreements. Literally she said: “First of all, we have stuck together in the NATO alliance with all western nations, the decision is also taken jointly that no armored personnel carriers or battle tanks of western models will be delivered.”
CDU foreign affairs expert Johann Wadephul considers this justification to be “untenable”. He recalled that on April 28, the Bundestag had requested the federal government to expand support for Ukraine by supplying “heavy weapons and complex systems, for example as part of the ring exchange”. This application was approved by the broad majority of the traffic light groups and the CDU/CSU group.
Wadephul now said to FOCUS Online: “When the decision was taken, the federal government never mentioned such an agreement with NATO. Either this is due to a scandalous incompetence coupled with sloppiness and ignorance. Or, and that would be a real scandal, the German Bundestag and the public are being led behind the spruce with ever new pseudo-justifications in order to camouflage a systematic strategy of delay.”
Wadephul therefore announced: “Due to the many open questions and the continued refusal of the federal government to justify its actions clearly and transparently, the CDU/CSU parliamentary group reserves the right to fully enforce the necessary parliamentary control rights, if necessary in the form of a committee of inquiry.”
It is already clear “that government action and communication policy on the issue of arms deliveries can only be described as a total failure,” said Wadephul. “Apparently, large parts of the federal government and the SPD have still not understood what is at stake: existential help for Ukraine in its struggle for survival. And it is just as evident that the federal government is knowingly accepting serious upheavals with our allies.” That’s why she has to deliver heavy weapons at last!”
In the debate about possible deliveries of armored personnel carriers and battle tanks from Germany to Ukraine, not only the Union is launching sharp attacks against the federal government, the dispute is also becoming more heated among the traffic light factions in the Bundestag. The defense policy spokeswoman for the Green Group, Sara Nanni, has now sharply criticized Defense Minister Christine Lambrecht’s (SPD) communication.
“We were surprised and irritated that the NATO partners should have agreed not to supply Ukraine with armored personnel carriers and battle tanks,” said Hanni in an interview with the news portal t-online. “As a traffic light, we often have the opportunity to speak to Defense Minister Lambrecht personally and she has never said that there was such an agreement.” According to the Green politician, this is also “uncomfortable” for the armaments companies who apparently also knew nothing about formal decisions at NATO level.
The statements by Lambrecht’s confidante Siemtje Möller on Sunday evening on ZDF caused a stir and a lot of irritation. The Secretary of State for Defense had to put up with numerous questions on Twitter, including from well-known security and defense experts. For example, the head of the Berlin office of the “European Council on Foreign Relations”, Jana Puglierin, asked what the alleged NATO decision was about, which had never been mentioned before: “I would like the statement from the interview to understand. We have agreed in the NATO alliance not to deliver western-style armored personnel carriers or main battle tanks to Ukraine?”
NATO itself provided a relatively clear answer. A spokesman for the military alliance in Brussels told the “Bild” newspaper: “The delivery of certain military goods is a national decision. Allies continue to provide significant military assistance to Ukraine, including Western equipment.” That means there is no official “decision” within NATO against the delivery of Western heavy weapon systems to Ukraine. That is exactly what Siemtje Möller had claimed!
A spokesman for the Ministry of Defense meanwhile tried to put the memorable appearance of the state secretary on ZDF into perspective. There was “no talk of a formal agreement or anything like that” in NATO, he is quoted as saying by the “Bild” newspaper.
The SPD faction in the Bundestag is meanwhile relaxed. “There can be no talk of delaying tactics at all. The agreement in our alliances is: we will not deliver any western-style main battle tanks to the Ukraine without prior agreement,” said defense policy spokesman Wolfgang Hellmich. “The federal government and its partners are sticking to this.”
Surf tip: SPD problem – Christine Lambrecht: What you should know about the defense minister
