The Social Democratic leader clearly opposed a no-fly zone or the sending of a NATO peacekeeping mission to Ukraine.
But the break is not the adventure. Because if Germany is ready to change course, it also knows how far it does not want to go. This was explained by Olaf Scholz on Wednesday March 23 in a new speech to the Bundestag, the objective of which was above all to reassure public opinion that this war, a two-hour flight from Berlin, is increasingly worrying. more.
On this level, he wanted to be very clear. First by opposing an end of inadmissibility to “those who demand a no-fly zone or the dispatch of a NATO peacekeeping mission to Ukraine”, as Poland proposes. “As difficult as it is, we will not give in,” said the German Chancellor. “NATO will not be a co-belligerent”, he promised, referring to “the hundreds of letters and e-mails sent [to him] every day by fellow citizens (…) who wonder if this war will come up to [them]”.
Balancing game
Second commitment: Germany will not give up gas or oil supplies from Russia in the short term. “To do so overnight would be to plunge our country and all of Europe into recession,” warned Olaf Scholz. Hundreds of thousands of jobs would be threatened. Entire industrial sectors would be in trouble. »
This clarification was expected, particularly from economic circles. “The European Union [EU] is not prepared for a complete and short-term embargo on energy products,” the president of the powerful Federation of German Industrialists, Siegfried Russwurm, said on Wednesday. “Such an embargo would endanger the unity of the EU and its ability to act politically and economically,” he warned. The Chancellor heard the message: “Sanctions must not hit European states harder than Russian leaders. We are doing no one a favor by jeopardizing the very substance of our economy,” he said.
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