Green Vice-Chancellor Robert Habeck has come out in favour of green-lighting the shipment of Leopard 2 battle tanks from Poland to Ukraine, increasing the pressure on Chancellor Olaf Scholz to agree.
Poland announced it would ship German-made Leopard tanks to Kyiv on Wednesday during a visit to Lviv. However, any exports of German arms need to receive a green light from Berlin first, and Scholz has not confirmed his stance.
Habeck, however, believes Berlin should give Warsaw a thumbs up.
Germany should “not stand in the way if other countries decide to support Ukraine,” he was quoted as saying by Zeit on Thursday. This is true “irrespective of the decisions that Poland takes,” he added.
With statements, the Green minister increases pressure on the German chancellor. So far, Germany has shied away from delivering Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine itself, with Scholz arguing that Berlin does not want to do a solo run without its partners.
Poland’s advance has made this argument much harder to uphold.
Berlin overcame its hesitation to deliver Marder tanks only after Paris and Washington charged ahead with the delivery of the first Western-style tanks to Ukraine.
Meanwhile, former NATO General Egon Ramms pointed to the significant availability of Leopard 1 tanks that Germany could deliver apart from Leopard 2 ones. “We would also have the option of more than 100 Leopard Is held by the industry,” he stressed.
(Julia Dahm | EURACTIV.de)
Source: euractiv.com
