First he takes on Olaf Scholz, then the German arms deliveries and finally Defense Minister Lambrecht. But the verbal all-round attack from CDU leader Merz is not well received. According to the FDP, the politician presents himself as little informed.
The chairwoman of the Defense Committee in the Bundestag, Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann, was shocked by the behavior of Union faction leader Friedrich Merz. During his appearance in the Bundestag on Thursday, he presented himself as “rude”, “unprofessional” and “uninformed” in terms of content, said the FDP politician on the TV station Welt.
Strack-Zimmermann, for example, criticized Merz’s accusation that practically no heavy weapons were currently being delivered to Ukraine. “I am surprised that Friedrich Merz said that. Friedrich Merz should have sat down with his defense politicians before his speech. Then he would know that the whole thing was going well,” she said. He should have known, for example, that “we also train” and “that these heavy weapons are being prepared”. Merz was “simply uninformed on the subject”.
In addition, Merz called for the dismissal of Defense Minister Christine Lambrecht. Lambrecht took her 21-year-old son with him in a government helicopter to visit troops in northern Germany in mid-April and has been publicly criticized ever since. “You can be critical of each other, but I think it’s not appropriate to react to press articles and attack a minister in such a debate,” Strack-Zimmermann criticized the statements by opposition leader Merz. He, in particular, who has “experienced similar criticism first hand”, should be more reserved. “He was kicked out by Angela Merkel, which he obviously hasn’t overcome to this day.”
The Union politician had accused Chancellor Olaf Scholz of playing a double game in connection with the delivery of heavy weapons to Ukraine. Scholz gives the impression that weapons are being delivered, said the CDU chairman on Thursday in his response to Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s government statement in the Bundestag. “The truth is that almost nothing has been delivered from Germany in the last few weeks. (…) Practically nothing is delivered,” said Merz. “What kind of game are you playing there, also with the German public, when it comes to these arms deliveries?”.
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