At the Munich Security Conference, the Chancellor emphasized that NATO’s assistance clause must not be relativized. He did not mention Donald Trump’s name.
At the Munich Security Conference, Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) warned against weakening the will to common defense in NATO. “Let me also make it clear: Any relativization of NATO’s guarantee of assistance only benefits those who want to weaken us – like Putin,” said Scholz on Saturday. He was obviously reacting to statements made by US presidential candidate Donald Trump, who made it clear during a campaign appearance that he would not provide American support to allies with low defense spending in the event of a Russian attack. Scholz did not mention the name of the ex-president.
According to Scholz, the threat from Russia is real. The West must therefore continue to strive for deterrence. It is also important to strengthen NATO’s European pillar, including in terms of deterrence. The National Security Strategy stipulated “to promote the development and introduction of future capabilities, such as stand-off precision weapons.” There are already talks there with France and Great Britain, Europe’s nuclear powers in NATO. At the same time, the Chancellor continued to emphasize the close relationship with the USA.
“Standing together more united than ever”
With regard to support for Ukraine, Scholz called for similar efforts in Europe to those that the USA has made so far. “A comparable effort must be the minimum that every European country undertakes,” said Scholz on Saturday at the Munich Security Conference. Also with a view to the billions in aid decided by Germany for Kiev, Scholz said that he “very much” wants “similar decisions to be made in all EU capitals.”
The Chancellor is not hopeless: “We are more united than ever.” He mentioned the permanent stationing of a German brigade in Lithuania and the accession of Sweden and Finland to NATO as advances. Russia, on the other hand, has not yet achieved any of its war goals.
