The Russian invasion in Ukraine is the return of the “scourge” of war back in Europe, according to Charles III. The King of England, visiting Germany, appeared before the deputies on Thursday. The successor of Elizabeth II calls on the allies to “draw courage from their unity” to get out of it.
The Russian war against Ukraine has caused “so much unimaginable pain to so many innocent people”, declared the British sovereign, the first monarch to speak in the precincts of the Bundestag, the parliament of the Federal Republic of Germany.
It constitutes a “threat” to the security of Europe and “our democratic values”, he added in this speech of about half an hour, held mainly in German and which ended with a standing ovation.
“A signal to London”
The king praised in particular the deliveries of heavy weapons to Ukraine by Germany, a country deeply pacifist since the horrors of Nazism and which has long hesitated to take this step. This speech was one of the highlights of Charles III’s three-day visit, accompanied by Queen Consort Camilla on his first trip abroad as King.
His arrival is placed under the sign of the bonds of friendship between the two countries and constitutes an important European gesture after the exit of the United Kingdom from the European Union.
In the wake of his speech in the Bundestag, he went to the old Tegel airport, in the west of the capital, to meet Ukrainian refugees who are temporarily housed there. A gesture interpreted by public television ARD as “a signal to London”. Germany has taken in over a million refugees from Ukraine, compared to around 160,000 for the UK.