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Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann giving a speech in the Bundestag

Photo: dts news agency / IMAGO

As soon as Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) explained why he did not want to deliver Taurus cruise missiles to Ukraine, criticism began to pour in.

Not just from the opposition, but also from the other traffic light parties.

FDP defense politician Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann is particularly outraged.

The top candidate for the European elections accused the Chancellor on Platform

»German soldiers are not needed on Ukrainian soil for Taurus.

The Chancellor’s claim is false,” wrote Strack-Zimmermann.

Last week, the FDP politician was the only traffic light MP to vote for a motion from the opposition CDU/CSU faction calling for Taurus delivery.

Scholz has now clearly rejected the delivery of Taurus cruise missiles to Ukraine, citing the risk of Germany becoming involved in the war.

“We must not be linked at any point or place to the goals that this system achieves,” said Scholz on Monday at the editor-in-chief conference of the dpa news agency.

Strack-Zimmermann, on the other hand, criticizes the timing on the Welt-TV television station.

The situation in Ukraine is currently “incredibly serious psychologically,” said the FDP politician.

It is the “most difficult moment imaginable, namely when Ukraine has a massive problem.”

Strack-Zimmermann continues: "It's about the actual situation, but it's also about the psychological situation and the fact that this is happening at this moment - I can't believe it!"

Scholz was wrong when he claimed that Bundeswehr soldiers had to go to Ukraine to prepare this weapon.

That's simply not true, said Strack-Zimmermann.

The Chancellor is looking for excuses.

It is true that Taurus must be prepared, just like other weapons.

“But: Where there is a will, there is indeed a way,” emphasized the FDP politician.

»But obviously arguments are now being brought out that have already been brought out before - and of course I ask myself: Who is advising the Chancellor?

I find that very worrying.”

Criticism also came from the Greens and the CDU

The Chancellor also received opposition from another party in his own coalition.

The deputy parliamentary group leader of the Green Party in the Bundestag, Agnieszka Brugger, wrote on X: “No one who calls for Taurus wants Germany to become a war party.

I reject this accusation.

According to everything I know, this connection is not factually correct.

Criticism also came from the Union: CDU foreign policy expert Norbert Röttgen wrote on

»But it is strategically important because it allows the Ukrainians to destroy positions in the occupied territories without moving close to the front line.

Taurus would protect soldiers and civilians like this!”

kfr/dpa/Reuters