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The reply isn’t anticipated to please the German chief.
Ironic inversion
For the 2 leaders, the irony will likely be wearily obvious. On the outset of the conflict it was Scholz who took his lead from Biden. Germany was the principle laggard on offering navy help to Ukraine — and it was Biden who pushed Scholz’s authorities to do rather more. On the time, the Germans, scared of being drawn right into a spiraling battle with Putin, refused to ship heavy arms to Ukraine till the Individuals and different NATO allies did so first.
That dynamic hasn’t completely disappeared. Regardless of repeated requests from Ukraine, Scholz has so far refused to supply Ukraine with Taurus long-range cruise missiles, fearful the Ukrainians might use them to assault targets in Russia. The U.Okay. and France, in the meantime, have supplied cruise missiles.
Now the burden is more and more on Scholz to take the lead. Germany is second solely to the U.S. in offering navy help to Ukraine, having given €17.1 billion in help by way of October of final yr, in response to a tally by the Kiel Institute for the World Economic system. The U.Okay., in contrast, has supplied €6.57 billion, whereas France has contributed a mere €0.54 billion.
In mild of these numbers, Scholz has been pushing European nations to supply extra help to Ukraine, and has additionally voiced irritation that Germany hasn’t shaken its popularity as a ditherer on Ukraine regardless of the assistance it has supplied.
“I’m irritated over the fixed criticism Germany faces as a result of the federal government is supposedly not doing sufficient and is simply too reluctant to behave,” he mentioned in an interview with German weekly Die Zeit. “We’ve finished greater than every other EU nation — much more. That’s why I’m on the telephone loads asking my counterparts to do extra.”
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