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The hesitation with which the German chancellor, Olaf Scholz, arrived at Wednesday’s decision to send a company of Leopard 2 battle tanks to Ukraine, also allowing other European states to deliver more, has frustrated partners in Europe and puzzled political allies in Berlin. But to Hilde Blücher the pace was just right.
“I thought it was likable that he was wavering”, said the 73-year-old pensioner from the Düsseldorf area, passing by the Russian embassy on Berlin’s Unter den Linden boulevard on a visit to the capital. “I think the decision is right, but it was also right to take time to think it through.”
Her friend said: “My husband always says, we need to remember that we lost the second world war to the Russians. And if Russia has decided to continue that conflict, then Germany must at least not be in charge of wading in.”
Scholz’s declaration of a Zeitenwende, or “epochal turn”, in German security policy last February raised expectations that the EU’s largest economy had overcome its historical reluctance on military matters and learned to lead from the front when it came to aiding Ukraine’s effort against Russia’s war of aggression.
Since then, debates about weapons exports have followed a familiar – and to many allies frustrating – pattern, in which Berlin prevaricates over different categories of hardware while it waits for other countries, especially the US, to take the lead.
But Scholz’s restrained approach is not unreflective of attitudes among the German public, especially among the 64-year-old’s age cohort. “I think what Scholz did over the last week was politically very well thought-through”, said Karl-Ludwig, 63, who had stopped outside the Russian embassy to look at a display of candles and photographs showing ruined Ukrainian cities.
