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dpa
Berlin
After weeks of dismissing questions over whether he would personally go to Kiev to meet Ukrainian leaders, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has provoked criticism from the opposition by saying he did not want to take part in a visit for a “photo op.”
Speaking to broadcaster RTL on Monday, Scholz said: “I will not line up in a group of people who are making a short in-and-out visit with a photo op. It would need to be about concrete things.”
His comments were picked up on Tuesday by conservative opposition leader Friedrich Merz - who himself visited Kiev recently and met Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
“I find it strange that the chancellor would apostrophize committee chairpersons, the Bundestag president and the foreign minister in the way that he did in that television programme yesterday evening,” Merz told a meeting of conservative bloc lawmakers.
All of the people that Merz mentioned - Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock, Bundestag President B?rbel Bas and parliamentary committee chairpersons Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann, Anton Hofreiter and Michael Roth - have made trips to Ukraine since the war began. They are also all from parties in Scholz’s centre-left governing coalition.
The comments could reignite a debate over visits to Kiev that has dogged Scholz for weeks.
Scholz was irritated when Kiev snubbed a visit by President Frank-Walter Steinmeier just over a month ago, and despite direct talks between Steinmeier and Zelensky that apparently resolved the dispute, Scholz has refused to join other European leaders in going to Kiev himself.
Zelensky invited Scholz to Kiev on May 9 as a “strong” signal to counteract Victory Day celebrations taking place the same day in Moscow, but he did not go. Baerbock made her trip the day after.
Berlin
After weeks of dismissing questions over whether he would personally go to Kiev to meet Ukrainian leaders, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has provoked criticism from the opposition by saying he did not want to take part in a visit for a “photo op.”
Speaking to broadcaster RTL on Monday, Scholz said: “I will not line up in a group of people who are making a short in-and-out visit with a photo op. It would need to be about concrete things.”
His comments were picked up on Tuesday by conservative opposition leader Friedrich Merz - who himself visited Kiev recently and met Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
“I find it strange that the chancellor would apostrophize committee chairpersons, the Bundestag president and the foreign minister in the way that he did in that television programme yesterday evening,” Merz told a meeting of conservative bloc lawmakers.
All of the people that Merz mentioned - Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock, Bundestag President B?rbel Bas and parliamentary committee chairpersons Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann, Anton Hofreiter and Michael Roth - have made trips to Ukraine since the war began. They are also all from parties in Scholz’s centre-left governing coalition.
The comments could reignite a debate over visits to Kiev that has dogged Scholz for weeks.
Scholz was irritated when Kiev snubbed a visit by President Frank-Walter Steinmeier just over a month ago, and despite direct talks between Steinmeier and Zelensky that apparently resolved the dispute, Scholz has refused to join other European leaders in going to Kiev himself.
Zelensky invited Scholz to Kiev on May 9 as a “strong” signal to counteract Victory Day celebrations taking place the same day in Moscow, but he did not go. Baerbock made her trip the day after.
