Germany has for years been the pacifist in Europe, the ‘inhibitor’ of tough joint action against Russian aggression. But that is starting to change.
On 27 February, three days after Russia invaded Ukraine, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz addressed an unprecedented emergency Sunday sitting of Germany’s federal parliament, the Bundesrat, in which he laid out a new more aggressive policy towards Russia.
Yet both coalition partners of Scholz’s SPD party – the FDP and the Greens – have criticised him for failing to take more decisive action, particularly to supply heavy weapons to Ukraine.magazine has reported, that by the end of March Germany had supplied Ukraine with just €1.2-million in military aid – none of it in heavy weapons – “while tiny Estonia had managed to come up with €2.2-million”. However, Germany notes that it contributed a major share to the European Union’s €1.
She also notes that there has also been considerable public pressure on Scholz to do more for Ukraine as the German people strongly support Ukraine’s cause. Polls have shown about 78% back the tougher stance Scholz is taking. Half a million people demonstrated at the Bundestag against the war, and Berlin lit the Brandenburg Gate in blue and yellow to show solidarity with Ukraine.Priesmeyer-Tkocz says Germans are also feeling increasingly threatened by Russia.
Yet analysts are still trying to understand Scholz’s reluctance to take more decisive action. Behind all of this is the rather pacifist policy that has been pursued by all German governments since 1945, a reaction to the aggression of the Nazi regime which plunged Europe and the world into World War 2.
Scholz’s critics like Hofreiter are waiting for the next step which would be for Germany to supply its most sophisticated current heavy weapons to Ukraine and to train the Ukrainian military in how to use them.
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