Future German government vows support for Ukraine, with no Taurus mention
This was stated by the leader of the Social Democratic Party, Lars Klingbeil, who spoke at a briefing following coalition agreement talks, answering a question on whether the Taurus missiles could eventually be handed to Ukraine, an Ukrinform correspondent reports.
"We made a clear commitment, and it was important for all of us that we support Ukraine. And this is exactly what the future federal government will achieve, as the current interim federal government is doing. This is the path from which there will be no deviation," the representative of the SPD, which had been the ruling party until now, assured.
At the same time, the politician noted that the coalition agreement, where the parties define their common course, does not stipulate "decisions on individual weapons systems."
"We will make all decisions together when it comes to strengthening Ukraine... We are sending a common signal: we are on the side of courageous Ukrainians. They can rely on us, and this is a clear signal from the next federal government," said Klingbeil, expressing hope that the parties will no longer argue about specific weapons systems, as they have been for the past year and a half.
CDU leader and obviously next chancellor Friedrich Merz noted only that "in the coalition agreement we have sent a very clear signal about our own security, including major investments."
As reported, previous Chancellor Olaf Scholz, despite calls from many politicians, stood categorically against the transfer of long-range weapons to Ukraine, explaining this by the reluctance to escalate tensions and avoid drawing Germany and NATO into war. In turn, Friedrich Merz, as an opposition leader, repeatedly called Bundestag to provide Ukraine with Taurus missiles or at least to issue an ultimatum to Putin: either he stops bombing Ukraine, or Germany provides Kyiv with long-range weapons within a matter of hours. During the election campaign and after the elections, he became more cautious in his statements.
