German Chancellor Olaf Scholz reiterated his refusal to deliver Taurus missiles to Ukraine, stressing that he considers the deployment of long-range weapons, which require the deployment of German soldiers abroad, a line he does not wish to cross.

“As chancellor, I have the responsibility to prevent Germany from getting involved in this war,” Olaf Scholz said in response to questions from MPs yesterday, accusing the opposition Christian Union (CDU/CSU) of “spreading half-truths” on the issue of Taurus, when the head of the CDU’s foreign policy group, Norbert Lammert, asked him whether he thought that, under international law, France and Britain were participating in the war by supplying Ukraine with long-range missiles. “By providing the weapons you do not become an involved part of the war. No one said anything like that. Neither I nor anyone else in the responsible environment of the federal government said that,” he said, but clarified that “the way this handover is done by France and Britain cannot be applied to us.”

The chancellor also rejected the idea that Germany’s relations with France and Britain have been strained after the comments about the missile system.

“Cooperation with the governments of Great Britain and France is good,” he said, noting that Germany is supplying arms worth more than seven billion euros this year, France three billion euros and Britain $2.5 billion. “These together create the power.”

Tomorrow (Friday), Olaf Solz will receive French President Emmanuel Macron and then Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk at the chancellery. The central theme of the meetings, in the “Weimar style”, will be, according to government spokesman Stephen Hempstreit, the continuation of Europe’s support for Ukraine. The tripartite meeting will be preceded by a meeting between Olaf Solz and Emmanuel Macron.