Germany’s opposition to the European Commission’s plan to appoint a defense commissioner

According to the report of the international group Tasnim news agency quoting According to Der Spiegel, the current president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, has a good chance of remaining in the post after the European elections next June. He has just been announced as the leading candidate of the European People’s Party – and is now preparing his agenda for a second term as president of the European Commission.

“Von Der Lain has announced that he wants to appoint a new EU Commissioner for Defence. He previously floated the idea at the Munich Security Conference in February. He justified this issue, among other things, with Russia’s war against Ukraine and the desire for greater independence of the European Union. The European Union should be more capable of military action. But the German federal government is skeptical about the fact that this would require a defense commissioner in Brussels. Boris Pistorius, the Federal Minister of Defense of Germany, has openly taken a position on this matter.

“Pistorius” said at the end of his trip through the Nordic countries in Finland that the defense in The European Union is “intergovernmental”. This is why we first of all need a proper council of defense ministers to better coordinate our national efforts. , his Finnish counterpart emphasized: He could imagine a “commissioner for the arms industry” that would link the existing powers and positions in the European Union Commission, but would not create any new responsibilities.

Pistorius has traveled to Northern Europe since Tuesday. During his trip to Sweden, Norway and Finland, he also visited the German soldiers participating in NATO’s Nordic exercise. In February, he had addressed the issue of the defense commissioner and had expressed “certain skepticism”. He emphasized: First of all, the duties of such a position should be clarified. According to him, if the job description is convincing, such an issue can be addressed in more detail. A decision will be made in June. The European Union Commission consists of 27 members, and each country sends a representative to Brussels. >

The German defense minister also stressed: “No one really wants the boot to land in Ukraine, there is a discussion about it now, so we have to stop it at this stage.” French President Emmanuel Macron proposed this idea last week.

“Antti Haakkenen”, the Minister of Defense of Finland, criticized in the same way and said: Currently “No one supports the idea of ​​’boots on the ground’,” he warned, “but everyone supports more support in the form of weapons, ammunition and money, and that’s what we need to focus on now.”

“Pistorius” also paid attention to the importance of Germany’s discussion regarding the supply of Taurus cruise missiles to Ukraine and said: long-range missiles cannot be decisive in this war. The question is whether the missiles can help in “one place or another”.

German Chancellor Olaf Schultz has stated several times that a There is an important limit that Germany will never cross, “and that is getting involved in the war. The German defense minister also pointed to the 500 km range of the Taurus missiles and said: That is why the Taurus has not been delivered yet.

Pistorius said about Ukraine’s ammunition shortage: “We have a problem with artillery production capacities, especially ammunition, air defense systems, Patriot and IRIS-T missiles. We have to We are doing everything we can anywhere in the world to collect, procure ammunition, stockpile, buy and produce whatever we can to support Ukraine.

He noted that Germany has trained 10,000 Ukrainian soldiers by the end of 2023. The same number will be trained in Germany in 2024.

German Defense Minister’s request for more support for the civilian population in Germany became Germany This German official said on Friday in Helsinki in a meeting with Antihäkkänen, the defense of Finland: This issue must be addressed immediately. He added: Of course, the protection of the population, civil protection, is always the negative side of a military threat and defense capability. which is part of the complex shelter facility for the population. In peacetime, Merihaka is used as a sports center. In total, Helsinki’s shelter facilities have space for 900,000 people, which is more than the population of the city. Germany, by contrast, has never had shelters for all its residents and has sold existing government facilities since the end of the Cold War or even allowed them to fall into disrepair.

Pistorius also Even during the Cold War, Germany had shelter space for only ten percent of its population, he said. This issue will be discussed in the federal cabinet.

Hakanen said, referring to Russia’s war against Ukraine: Russia is a long-term threat and we see that they have more support. They receive from partners and allies.

Finland was accepted into NATO in April last year. The country’s decision to join the coalition was influenced by Russia’s war against Ukraine and after Finland had valued military independence from alliances for decades. Finland has a population of about 5.5 million people and has a 1,340-kilometer border with Russia.

On Thursday, Sweden was also accepted into NATO. The Baltic Sea is now completely surrounded by NATO countries, with the exception of the Russian Kaliningrad coast between Lithuania and Poland.

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