FAZ early thinkers: Should Germany have a claim to leadership?

1. A new leadership role for Germany?

2. Moscow warns Lithuania of "serious consequences"

3. The desire for a strong Europe

Patrick Schlereth

Editor on duty at FAZ.NET.

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1. A new leadership role for Germany?

Chancellor Scholz is making a government statement on the summit marathon today.

SPD leader Klingbeil had previously formulated a new claim to leadership.

Summit marathon:

In the Bundestag today, Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) made a statement on the upcoming summit marathon.

The EU summit begins on Thursday, followed by the G-7 and NATO summits.

Scholz has big plans, especially for the three-day G-7 summit at Schloss Elmau in Bavaria.

The focus should be on Ukraine, food security, climate protection, dealing with pandemics and strengthening democracies worldwide.

"It would be a special success if the summit could be the starting point for a new look at the world of democracy," he told the German Press Agency.

leadership?

Before Scholz' government statement, the SPD chairman Lars Klingbeil spoke on Tuesday at a congress on the "turning point" of the Friedrich-Ebert-Foundation in Berlin.

His words sounded unusual for an SPD leader, but perhaps fitted in with the government's proclaimed "turning point".

"Germany must claim to be a leading power," he demanded.

The new role calls for a "completely different security policy debate in Germany".

He defended the delivery of arms to Ukraine: It is not talking about war that leads to war, but turning a blind eye to reality.

End of secrecy:

Almost four months after the start of the war, the federal government disclosed all arms deliveries to Ukraine for the first time.

In order to adapt to the practice of the allies, it was said to justify.

The list can now be found on the federal government's website. Previously, it was only accessible to MPs in the Bundestag's security agency.

Meanwhile, the first heavy artillery pieces from Germany have arrived in the Ukraine.

The Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksiy Resnikov thanked Federal Defense Minister Christine Lambrecht (SPD) on Twitter on Tuesday for the delivery of the Panzerhaubitzen 2000. The Ukrainian Ambassador Andriy Melnyk told the German Press Agency that all seven promised guns had arrived in Ukraine.

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2. Moscow warns Lithuania of “serious consequences”

Citing EU sanctions, Lithuania is restricting cargo traffic between the Russian heartland and its Kaliningrad exclave.

Moscow reacted with clear threats.

Threat:

The threat towards Lithuania was unmistakable.

"Russia will of course respond to such hostile actions," Russian National Security Council chief Nikolai Patrushev told Interfax news agency during a visit to Kaliningrad.

He announced retaliatory measures with "serious negative consequences for the people of Lithuania".