ANALYSIS: Dithering over sending Leopards to Ukraine threatens to split Germany’s ruling coalition partners, and contradicts their plans to play a greater global leadership role.
| Germany’s struggle to sign off on delivering Leopard fighting tanks to Kyiv is threatening to drive a wedge between Chancellor Olaf Scholz’ ruling coalition partners amid spiralling political turbulence in Berlin unleashed by Russia’s brutal war in Ukraine.
Billed by the SPD as “a turning point”, the plan represents a significant break with Germany’s decades-long stance when both the left-leaning SPD and conservative-led governments followed the principle of leading from behind. Administrations only acted on the world stage in tandem with the nation’s European Union and NATO allies.
Mr Scholz’ two junior coalition partners – the Greens and pro-business Free Democratic Party – have also now joined to urge Berlin to quickly end its prolonged consultations over whether to meetMarie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann, a member of both the FDP’s executive board and the parliamentary defence committee, lashed out at Mr Scholz’ handling of the political upheaval surrounding the Leopards as “shameful”, describing the chancellor’s communication style as “a catastrophe”.
Poland, Finland and Spain are among a group of 13 European states that own some of the 2000 battle tanks, considered by defence analysts as the world’s most modern. Travelling with speeds of up 70 kilometres an hour, they can provide all-round protection for their crews. “If such a request were to be made in Germany … then there are established procedures for responding to such a request,” the spokesman said.
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