2024-07-19 04:39:15
The USA wants to station new long-range weapons systems in Germany. The CSU in the Bundestag is demanding consequences from the Chancellor. And there is a warning to the far left and right.
CSU regional group leader Alexander Dobrindt expects Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) to correct the defense budget following the announcement of the rearmament with far-reaching US weapons in Germany. “After the NATO summit, Olaf Scholz must now deliver. His promises to NATO partners are clearly not fulfillable with the draft budget for 2025,” criticized the chairman of the CSU members of the Bundestag in Oberammergau, Upper Bavaria.
“It is now a matter of correcting the budget discussions from last week and presenting a defense budget that also makes these investments in deterrence and new weapons systems possible,” demanded Dobrindt. The defense budget, currently around 52 billion euros, is only to grow by around 1.2 billion euros following the austerity measures of the traffic light government. Defense Minister Boris Pistorius (SPD) had demanded significantly more and an exemption of these expenses from the debt brake.
On the sidelines of the NATO summit in Washington, it was announced that from 2026 onwards the USA will again station weapons systems in Germany that reach as far as Russia. These will include Tomahawk cruise missiles with a range of up to 2,500 kilometres, which can technically also be equipped with nuclear weapons, as well as SM-6 anti-aircraft missiles and newly developed hypersonic weapons. Russia and China reacted to the announcement with sharp criticism.
In addition to the American deployments, extensive weapons systems must also be developed in Europe, Dobrindt demanded. “This is an important contribution to strengthening our own security situation.” However, he doubts that Scholz and the traffic light government are willing to provide additional financial resources for this.
When asked whether he expected new protests like those during the rearmament debate in the 1980s, Dobrindt said that society had come to the realization that there was an increased threat situation that had been caused unilaterally by Russian President Vladimir Putin. He therefore assumed that there was “broad support in the public, in society, for these new stationing plans.”
With a view to the upcoming state elections in the east in September, Dobrindt said it was already clear “that the far left and the far right are trying to exploit this situation again, to abuse it.” He added: “This is not only reprehensible, but extremely dangerous.” Germany’s security must be achieved through a stronger level of deterrence. “Anyone who questions this is creating insecurity in Germany and Europe.”