Germany reconsiders role in ‘international fighter jet coalition’

The German government is reviewing its potential contribution to the recently created international coalition to provide fighter jets and training to Ukraine, said Defence Minister Boris Pistorius after previously saying the country couldn’t help as they lacked their own F-16 jets.

Last week, the UK and the Netherlands called for the international jet coalition, with several countries, including France, Belgium and Portugal, having since joined.

“We are currently reviewing the few conceivable options that we have, and then we’ll announce if we can and want to contribute,” Pistorius said on Tuesday ahead of a meeting of EU foreign ministers in Brussels.

But there would be “limited” opportunities for Germany to participate, he added.

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg offered a glimpse of what Germany’s support could look like, saying in Brussels that he welcomed the decision of several NATO members “including Germany, to start training pilots.”

Germany’s initial reluctance was grounded in its army not having F-16 jets – the models the alliance aims to procure.

Scholz said there are “no demands” for a German contribution last week, while Pistorius argued Germany did not have the capacity or competence to help out. On Tuesday, Pistorius also ruled out any fear of potential escalation related to sending jets.

However, Germany’s official line of argumentation has come under pressure since countries such as France and the UK offered support despite not having F-16s.

Moreover, the US government has swiftly signalled its approval to the delivery of American warplanes, a decision that any decision on fighter jets had been conditional on, according to Pistorius.

Proponents of warplane deliveries among Scholz’s coalition have also started to break ranks.

Michael Roth, chair of the parliament’s Committee on Foreign Affairs policy committee and Social Democrat MP, already called for Germany to join the fighter jet alliance.

“We won’t deliver jets ourselves because we don’t have any, but we can help in terms of logistics and maybe even funding,“ he told Deutschlandfunk on Tuesday.

(Nick Alipour | EURACTIV.de)