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Hans von der Burchard Profile picture
@vonderburchard
Nov 4 • 5 tweets • 2 min read • Read on X
As Olaf Scholz meets NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte in Berlin today, he opposes a membership perspective for Ukraine.

Now a counter proposal has popped up in my discussions with officials in Berlin: Ukraine should take a "neutral" status like Finland had for decades ... 1/ Image
2/ The (unofficially) voiced proposal comes amid talk in Berlin of setting up a "contact group" together with China, India and Brazil to negotiate a peace solution with Russia.

Giving Ukraine a NATO membership perspective would make such peace talks impossible, the thinking goes
3/ But the Finland idea has an obvious flaw: Helsinki just dropped its decades-long neutrality and joined NATO because Putin's Russia is so dangerous and violates international law...

Ukraine even argues that Merkel opposing Kyiv's NATO membership in 2008 lead to today's war.
4/ Notably, Finland's ambassador in Berlin, Kai Sauer, speaks up to oppose the idea: “It is not in our interest to restore any artificial spheres of interest”, he told me.

We are "obliged to respect the freedom of choice" of Ukraine, "as well as its territorial integrity."
5/ More about the discussion and Rutte's visit in Berlin today in Berlin Playbook:

politico.eu/newsletter/ber…

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More from @vonderburchard

Hans von der Burchard Profile picture
May 29
Important shift by Olaf Scholz:

A person "familiar" with the German gov's position confirms to POLITICO's Berlin Playbook that the Chancellor did indeed mean with yesterday's remark that Ukraine could strike back with Western weapons on Russian soil.
politico.eu/newsletter/ber…
2/ Scholz's spokesperson Steffen Hebestreit now on the record: Ukraine's "defensive action is not limited to one's own territory, but also includes the territory of the aggressor."

"I had the impression that the Chancellor was not surprised by what Macron said."
3/ Journalists grilled Hebestreit whether and which German weapons could be used, but the Scholz spokesperson insisted: ""I can't tell you that because the agreement is confidential."

He highlighted that weapons delivered by German have a lower range than arms by other countries
Read 6 tweets
Hans von der Burchard Profile picture
Jan 12, 2023
Breaking: Vice Chancellor Robert Habeck said Germany should not block Poland's request (if one is made) to send its Leopard tanks to Ukraine.

"Germany should not stand in the way when other countries make decisions to support Ukraine, regardless of what decision Germany makes."
So, it looks like the ball is now in Warsaw's court.

A German spokesperson said that so far there has been no request by Warsaw to allow donating Polish Leopard tanks to Ukraine.

It seems a bit of a chicken game where everyone's pointing with their finger at the others.

2/
More indication that Berlin is putting the ball in Warsaw's court:

"There are no requests from Poland or other nations for [authorizing Leopard] deliveries" to Ukraine, Defense Minister Christine Lambrecht said Thursday, speaking in front of a Marder IFV.

3/
Read 5 tweets
Hans von der Burchard Profile picture
Oct 27, 2022
Greece and Germany are "no longer in a relationship between weak and strong, between borrower and lender," said PM Kyriakos Mitsotakis in Athens next to Chancellor Scholz.

Yet he cautioned that both sides still need to find a "positive" solution on Greek demands for reparations.
Greece's Mitsotakis said that EU energy/gas price spat must be solved without an extraordinary leaders' summit in November.

"It would be terrible if that came back to us [EU leaders]. This must be resolved at the level of the energy ministers," Mitsotakis said.

2/
Scholz urged Turkey to stop threats against Greece in a dispute over Greek islands in the eastern Mediterranean.

“It should not be the case that NATO partners question each other’s sovereignty,” Scholz said. “All issues must be resolved on the basis of international law."

3/
Read 4 tweets
Hans von der Burchard Profile picture
Oct 26, 2022
The next episode in the Franco-German drama: Macron and Scholz meet today in Paris — but while 🇩🇪 announced there would be a joint press conference, 🇫🇷 declined to host one.

That would be quite a rebuke, similar to what Orbán recently faced in Berlin.
politico.eu/article/olaf-s…
I wrote “would be” a rebuke, because my smart colleague @cleacaulcutt in Paris reckons that if things go well between Scholz and Macron, the latter might spontaneously put on a press conference to show goodwill.

If not, things would inevitably look awkward/bad between both.

2/
Scholz has landed in Paris / Monsieur le Chancelier est arrivé 🇩🇪🇫🇷

3/
Read 6 tweets
Hans von der Burchard Profile picture
Oct 21, 2022
In what sounds like a swipe against U.S. push for decoupling from China, Scholz said in Brussels that he wants to maintain close trade ties with Beijing

"The EU prides itself on being a union interested in global trade and it does not side with those who promote deglobalization" Image
Asked about a report that he wants to force through China's purchase of a Hamburg port terminal against criticism and warnings from his own government and intelligence services, Scholz said that "nothing has been decided yet. There are still many questions to be clarified."

2/
Scholz sought to play down the importance of China's Hamburg port deal:

"It is not a question of selling the port, as in Zeebrugge [in Belgium] or Piraeus [in Greece]. At most, it's about participation in a terminal, as is also the case in some Western European ports."

3/
Read 7 tweets
Hans von der Burchard Profile picture
Oct 21, 2022
More EU debt? Fresh signs emerged early this morning from EU summit in Brussels that Germany and Netherlands are willing to explore a new EU finance instrument like SURE — based on loans, not grants — if existing money pots like the Recovery Fund or RePowerEU aren't enough.

1/
Such EU financing might be needed to cushion the fallout of the energy crisis in some countries that can't afford big relief packages like Germany's €200 billion "Doppelwumms."

Following first day of summit, 🇩🇪 Chancellor Olaf Scholz left the door open to such a solution...

2/
"We made a decision here that gives a mandate to investigate what is possible," Scholz said in reply to question by POLITICO about new debt.

Similarly, Dutch PM Mark Rutte said that if existing money wasn't enough, the EU would investigate "what might be needed" additionally

3/
Read 6 tweets

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