Olaf Scholz was criticised for being slow to supply tanks but working with allies keeps chancellor’s public on side
Germany’s government is defiant, maintaining that its lockstep approach to weapons deliveries is the best way to support Ukraine, and the only way it can do so while keeping its domestic public on side.
But the view in German government circles is that close coordination remains necessary to shore up fluctuating domestic support for Europe’s largest economy arming“The government would risk losing public support if we were to follow the example of people criticising the chancellor from the sidelines,” one government official said. “We want to be able to support Ukraine until the very end. And that means we need to keep the people on board.
A poll by public broadcaster ZDF published on Friday had 54% of those surveyed saying it was right to deliver Leopard 2 tanks and 38% critical of the step. In the states of the formerly socialist east, however, the figures were roughly reversed. Criticism of Scholz’s procrastination has come from within his Green and liberal party junior coalition partners but also from allies in the EU such as Poland, whose harrying of Berlin some German commentators have dismissed as being motivated by elections coming up this autumn.
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