Officially, the Chancellery did not want to comment on the alleged annoyance of the Americans on Sunday. According to information from the Tagesspiegel, US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin met with Chancellor Wolfgang Schmidt, who is considered the Chancellor’s right-hand man and closest confidante, during his visit to Berlin last week. Contrary to what is shown, there should not have been any major conflicts in the conversation.
Contrary to the sometimes harsh criticism voiced after the defense ministers’ meeting in Ramstein because no agreement was reached there on the delivery of Leopard main battle tanks to Ukraine, Scholz does not consider the coordination process with the Americans and the other allies to be over yet.
At a ceremony in Paris to mark the 60th anniversary of the Franco-German Elysée Treaty, he announced his intention to continue supporting Ukraine – “as long and as comprehensively as necessary”. This will happen “together, as Europeans”, “in defense of our European peace project”.
The “Süddeutsche Zeitung” had previously reportedthat Olaf Scholz’ position in the debate about deliveries of the Leopard 2 tank to Ukraine had led to “violent reactions” in Washington.
Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin described his talks in Berlin within American government circles – and apparently they were heated. Accordingly, Austin stayed longer than planned in the Chancellery last Thursday and got into “a heated argument” with Chancellor Wolfgang Schmidt.
Scholz makes the delivery of the Leopard main battle tanks and their release from stocks in other countries dependent on the USA also supplying main battle tanks to Ukraine. Specifically, Germany only wants to deliver when the United States sends Abrams M1 battle tanks.
The US Secretary of Defense pointed out that the laying and operation of these tanks would be too time-consuming and time-consuming, according to the “SZ”. Austin was particularly upset that the federal government had gone public with its demands on the United States before the Ramstein meeting.
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