The Social Democrats are resisting the traffic light’s Ukraine course. SPD parliamentary group leader Mützenich demands from Foreign Minister Baerbock that Berlin must press for more diplomacy. Saxony’s Prime Minister Kretschmer made a similar statement.

SPD parliamentary group leader Rolf Mützenich has called on Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock to do more to find a diplomatic solution to the Ukraine war. He feels supported by opinion polls, according to which 60 percent of Germans want more diplomatic initiatives, said Mützenich on the ZDF program “Berlin direkt”. “That was also said to the Foreign Minister, because she is currently the highest-ranking diplomat in Germany.”

According to ZDF, Mützenich went on to say that in the end it all comes down to a “balance” between Ukraine’s right to self-defense and diplomacy. The past few weeks have shown that diplomatic progress is possible. Despite massive military conflicts, a large exchange of prisoners took place. The agreement on grain deliveries was also a “tolerable success”.

Green leader Omid Nouripour, on the other hand, defended the Green Foreign Minister’s Ukraine policy. “Annalena Baerbock is doing everything she can so that we can come to peace,” he said, according to ZDF. Chancellor Olaf Scholz rightly said that Germany must coordinate closely with its partners, for example when it comes to arms deliveries: “Ukraine is an essential part of these partners, and Mr Mützenich should know that.” Nouripour emphasized that the negotiation successes that were achieved “we owe to Ukraine”. It is obvious that ceasefire negotiations at this stage would weaken Ukraine’s position.

The Prime Minister of Saxony, Michael Kretschmer, had previously made a similar statement in the “Bild am Sonntag”. The CDU politician called for a joint diplomatic effort by the EU, the USA, China, India and Japan. “This war must be stopped,” said the Saxon Prime Minister.

At the same time, Kretschmer advocated a resumption of Russian gas supplies after the Ukraine war. “We need long-term contracts for liquid gas supplies from the USA, Qatar and other Arab countries,” Kretschmer told the newspaper. “We also need to finally develop our own natural gas in the North Sea. And when the war is over, we should use gas from Russia again.”