The SPD remains open to discussing the delivery of Leopard-type main battle tanks to Ukraine, but does not want to be pressured.

At a closed meeting of the SPD parliamentary group on Friday, Chancellor Olaf Scholz said on the subject of arms deliveries to Ukraine: "We will not let ourselves be driven by all the loud callers." wise and balanced decisions on an issue as important as war and peace.”

Eckhart Lohse

Head of the parliamentary editorial office in Berlin.

  • Follow I follow

The SPD parliamentary group leader Rolf Mützenich said about the debate about the battle tank deliveries, "one can imagine many things".

It cannot be denied that there is a discussion.

However, Mützenich warned that the discussion about supporting Ukraine should not only focus on battle tanks.

Rather, it is about the full range of aid for Kyiv.

With a view to Scholz's repeated remark that Germany would never decide on its own about military support for Ukraine, but only together with its partners, Mützenich said: "It is not advisable to go it alone with a yes or a no." Mützenich said he never perceived Scholz as hesitant, rather he was "level-headed".

He could "insure"

Integrate Asia, Africa and Latin America

Mützenich pointed out that Scholz was also working towards involving those countries that had a different view of Russia's war against Ukraine than Germany and large parts of the western world.

According to participants, Scholz said when he appeared before the MPs that a “fundamentally new approach” to the countries of Asia, Africa and Latin America was required.

"In ten years we will be living in a completely changed world," said the Chancellor.

Countries like Indonesia, Malaysia, Japan, Korea, Thailand and Nigeria would become increasingly important.

“These countries will not allow themselves to be classified in a bipolar world order between China and the USA.

They want to develop independently.” Scholz is planning a multi-day trip to South America at the end of the month.

He said the opportunity for Germany is to be a "good, common point of contact for a multilateral world".

SPD wants to reflect on its politics in a “self-critical” manner

The parliamentary group was united behind a paper on international politics.

Regarding the Ukraine war, it states that "diplomatic talks" with Moscow must remain possible, "even if, for understandable reasons, there is no longer any trust in the current Russian leadership".

In any negotiation efforts, however, the principle applies: “not without Ukraine, not across Ukraine”.

Mützenich then explained that diplomacy does not mean conducting negotiations with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Mützenich tends to emphasize that the "path" to talks must be kept open.

The paper states that the SPD wants to reflect, adjust and explain its international policy “quite self-critically” in the “sign of a turning point”.

The parliamentary group's decision contains a very clear commitment to NATO.

"The fact that a war is being waged in Europe has once again shown us all the value of NATO as the guarantor of our security and the pillar of our collective defense." It is also said that we are building on a "strong and trusting partnership with the USA".