2024-03-16 00:23:02
The renewed debate and vote in the Bundestag about Taurus deliveries to Ukraine is sparking outrage in the SPD – including within its own coalition.
After the Taurus vote in the Bundestag, SPD foreign policymakers are taking a hard line against the Union, but also their own coalition partners. “The CDU/CSU’s Taurus proposal did not even receive full support from within its own ranks,” said the SPD’s foreign policy spokesman in the Bundestag, Nils Schmid, on Thursday. “The behavior of individual coalition MPs who agreed to it is all the more stupid. They fell into the opposition’s trap – and put on a show with no consequences that does not do justice to the seriousness of the situation.”
Bundestag Vice President Wolfgang Kubicki and the chairwoman of the Defense Committee Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann (both FDP) had previously voted in favor of the Union faction’s proposal to supply Taurus missiles to Ukraine – as the only members of the traffic light coalition. The SPD and the Greens voted unanimously against the motion. You can read more about the debate in the Bundestag here.
SPD man: That will leave its mark on the coalition
The SPD member of the Bundestag Michael Müller also sharply criticized the CDU/CSU’s Taurus proposal, which has now been submitted for the third time: “The Union’s schism has failed resoundingly,” said Müller. “What the CDU/CSU didn’t understand: Such proposals, which are only designed to divide the traffic light factions, end up bringing us closer together.”
Müller also made serious accusations against the green traffic light partner. “If the ranks of the coalition, like the deputy group leader of the Green Party Agnieszka Brugger in today’s speech, jump over every stick of the Union and directly attack the Chancellor in the style of an opposition speech, then this is not only extremely dangerous in the matter, but will be Leaving a mark on the coalition.”
In the Bundestag debate on Thursday morning, Brugger sharply criticized Chancellor Scholz. “The truth is that hesitation and hesitation can ultimately contribute to escalation,” she said, among other things.
There were also dissenters in the Union
Three members of the Union parliamentary group also voted against the motion: the former CDU general secretary Mario Czaja and the members Jens Koeppen (CDU) and Emmi Zeulner (CSU). In addition, MP Heike Brehmer (CDU) and former CSU ministers Peter Ramsauer and Hans-Peter Friedrich abstained. Zeulner later explained to “Stern” that she had accidentally voted against the motion.
By publishing the outcome of the roll-call vote, the Bundestag also corrected the overall result that was initially announced: 494 MPs voted against the Union motion and 188 for it. Five MPs abstained and 48 others did not take part in the vote.
The AfD voted almost unanimously to reject the Union proposal for the Taurus delivery. Only MP Rainer Kraft deviated from the party line, another AfD MP abstained. The Left and BSW groups also voted unanimously against the motion.