The German Conservative Party has neglected the country’s defense for the past two decades and its foreign and defense policies are now “ruins”, says the leader of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), Friedrich Mertz, in an interview published today by the German tabloid Bild am Sonntag.
The leader of the main opposition spoke of “serious mistakes” in the field of defense on her part as a former ruling conservative faction.
“Looking back, we have to say, unfortunately, that all the defense ministers of the last 20 years have made the wrong decisions about the material and the condition of the army,” Mr Mertz said.
The German army has been facing problems for years with outdated equipment and shortages.
From the end of 2005 until the end of 2021, members of either the CDU or the brother of the Bavarian Christian Social Union (CSU) took over the ministry of defense. Social Democrat Peter Struk has been Secretary of Defense since mid-2002.
Speaking to the newspaper about the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Friedrich Mertz stressed that “the whole German foreign and defense policy of the last 20 years is in ruins. When this war is over, we must carefully analyze how it happened.”
“Mass sanctions and the isolation of Russia” should have been imposed as early as 2014, when Moscow annexed Crimea, he said.
Following the outbreak of the war, Social Democrat Chancellor Olaf Soltz, in a major rift with decades of German politics, announced a massive $ 100 billion German military rearmament program.
Source: ΑΠΕ-ΜΠΕ
Source: Capital
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