Weapons for Ukraine: Merz accuses the government of "delaying tactics".

The CDU chairman Friedrich Merz has accused the federal government of deliberately delaying arms deliveries to Ukraine.

"There are obviously delaying strategies in the federal government, at least one delaying tactic," said Merz on Tuesday evening on the "RTL Direkt" program.

He referred to public complaints from defense contractors that they were not being granted export licenses for tanks.

"They don't play with open cards here," said Merz.

"There can be reasons not to say everything, but then the chancellor should also express it."

Referring to Scholz's warnings of an escalation in the Ukraine war, Merz said: "The Chancellor has gotten used to a rhetoric that does not match what he claims to do with us." The CDU leader recalled the cross-party decision of the Bundestag, which advocates the delivery of heavy weapons to Ukraine to help the country defend against the Russian attack on the country.

However, Scholz speaks less of this, criticized Merz.

Instead, he constantly talks about a risk of escalation.

"There is a risk of escalation if we don't help Ukraine," said Merz.

Russian President Vladimir Putin will continue his aggressive policy "if we don't stop him".

The CDU foreign policy expert Jürgen Hardt told the broadcaster RBB that he currently sees no way of ending the Ukraine war through diplomatic channels.

Rather, a prerequisite for an end to the war is a strengthening of Ukraine.

"Ukraine must be in a position where it can negotiate with Putin, with Russia, with an upright head," Hardt said.

To do this, they must be able to achieve military successes.

"I hope that we can make a contribution to this," said the CDU politician.

Traffic light wants to accelerate procurement

On Wednesday it became known that the federal government wants to remove obstacles to the accelerated procurement of weapons and equipment for the Bundeswehr.

The German Press Agency in Berlin learned that procurement law should be adjusted and German security interests should be taken into account in a simplified manner.

In addition, a key issues paper for a Bundeswehr procurement acceleration law should be a topic in the federal cabinet on Wednesday.

The aim of the law is to greatly speed up procedures for reviewing and reviewing procurements for a number of years – a period needed to ramp up operational readiness.

The purchase of weapons or equipment via international organizations - including the NATO procurement agency NSPA and the European procurement agency Occar - is to be strengthened as an alternative procurement route and made more legally secure.

There is also a plea for an acceleration in that contracts do not necessarily have to be declared null and void because an award was made illegally due to ignorance or errors in the award procedure without an invitation to tender.

The Ministry of Defense considers it necessary to maintain such contracts if the interests of defense and security policy so require.

Strack-Zimmermann demands chief manager

Meanwhile, the chairwoman of the defense committee in the Bundestag, Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann (FDP), reiterated calls for a chief manager for the delivery of heavy weapons to Ukraine.

She pleads for a special coordinator in the Chancellery to quickly bring all those involved from politics, business and the military to one table, said Strack-Zimmermann.

So far, the Ukrainian government has placed its inquiries in a wide variety of places.

"That also led to unfortunate misunderstandings for which we cannot and do not want to take responsibility in this situation," said Strack-Zimmermann.

"All of this is not only annoying for everyone involved and creates uncertainty due to unclear regulations and processes, it also slows down the urgently needed aid to Ukraine," she said.

Approval processes, repairs and the procurement of spare parts and ammunition are time-consuming.

The former chairman of the Munich Security Conference, Wolfgang Ischinger, spoke on ARD in favor of Ukraine's admission to NATO.

The fact that NATO rejected membership in 2008 was correct at the time, but not anymore.

“After what the Russians have now done in Ukraine, one should actually say that we are now really bringing Ukraine into NATO.

I would bring that up for discussion," said Ischinger.

No one else can give Ukraine the security guarantees it needs after the end of the war if peace is made.