The Bundestag has rejected the delivery of Taurus cruise missiles to Ukraine. A motion from the CDU/CSU parliamentary group in which this German weapon system was explicitly mentioned did not receive a majority on Thursday. Only 182 MPs voted in favor, 480 against, and there were 5 abstentions.
The application for a “real turning point in German foreign and security policy” had called for the “immediate delivery of requested weapon systems available in Germany” including Taurus cruise missiles.
Parliamentary group leader Friedrich Merz had previously called on members of the SPD, Greens and FDP to join the CDU/CSU’s proposal. “Ukraine continues to not receive the full amount of material it urgently needs to effectively deter Russia’s war of aggression,” he said.
In a further motion put forward for debate at midday by the traffic light parties SPD, Greens and FDP, the federal government is called on to supply “additionally required long-range weapon systems” – but Taurus cruise missiles are not mentioned. The FDP defense politician Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann, who has long been calling for a Taurus delivery, has therefore announced that she will also support the Union proposal. The exact voting behavior of the MPs will be published soon.
The phrase “additionally required long-range weapon systems” is interpreted differently in the traffic light coalition. Politicians from the Greens and FDP also understand this as Taurus. For Chancellor Scholz, the weapon system is not included.
Defense Minister Boris Pistorius (SPD) promised further military support in the Bundestag for Ukraine attacked by Russia. However, in a debate on the Ukraine war on Friday, he left it open whether this would also include the Taurus cruise missile. When asked by CDU MP Jürgen Hardt whether the “additionally required long-range weapon systems” called for in a coalition proposal should be understood to mean Taurus, SPD politician Pistorius said: “I can’t answer that. I have read the proposal. The applicants will have thought about their part. (…) I am not a member of the group.” Unlike Chancellor Olaf Scholz, for example, Pistorius is a member of the government, but not of the Bundestag.
The deputy chairman of the Union parliamentary group, Johann Wadephul, asked Scholz to explain his position. “In this situation, I would like to know from Chancellor Scholz what the big problem with the delivery of the Taurus rockets is. Nobody knows, nobody knows. We haven’t received a rational explanation for this.” The public, Ukraine and the German Bundestag have a right to know why the delivery is not happening.
