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Former NATO boss Rasmussen: “We need a much more determined German government”
Photo: Stephanie Lecocq / EPA-EFE
Former NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen criticized Chancellor Olaf Scholz as being too hesitant.
In a recently published interview with the Swiss “Neue Zürcher Zeitung,” Rasmussen said with regard to dealing with Ukraine: “We need heads of state who act decisively.”
In times of war, one cannot lead by following public opinion.
»We need a much more decisive German government.
Chancellor Scholz is far too slow, far too hesitant.
“He doesn’t seem like a leader,” Rasmussen said.
"I don't understand why Germany doesn't deliver Taurus"
This is also why Germany is not given enough credit for the fact that it provides Ukraine with the most financial support after the USA, Rasmussen continued.
Scholz would have to act much more offensively.
"I don't understand why Germany doesn't deliver Taurus," says Rasmussen.
Europe must switch to a war economy and provide Ukraine with all the weapons it needs, said the Dane.
»We must finally understand the seriousness of the situation.
Putin will not let up, especially not until the election in the USA.
He advocated extending an invitation to Ukraine to join NATO as soon as possible.
"I don't know whether this will happen at the NATO summit in July," he said.
"But I would like to counter the argument that it is impossible to initiate an accession process while Ukraine is still at war."
This argument sends the wrong signal to Putin: "He would know that he simply has to continue the war indefinitely to prevent Ukraine from becoming a member of NATO.
We have to break this vicious circle.«
Rasmussen was a past Prime Minister of Denmark and is currently co-chair of the International Working Group on Security Issues and Euro-Atlantic Integration of Ukraine.
aeh/dpa