The issue of sending troops to Ukraine, even as peacekeepers, is a thorny one for Germany.
Olaf Scholz, who will attend the summit as caretaker chancellor after losing elections last Sunday, has repeatedly voiced his opposition. He reiterated this stance on February 17 after the Munich Security Conference, telling France’s Emmanuel Macron the question was “completely premature”.
Will this stance change under Friedrich Merz, the conservative leader who will succeed Scholz once he seals a coalition deal with Scholz’s SPD party? Merz, who talked to Scholz on Friday after the White House meltdown, has made the participation of German soldiers in a peacekeeping force in Ukraine dependent on US participation.
Merz has been more hawkish than Scholz, supporting the idea of supplying the country’s long-range Taurus missiles to improve Kyiv’s negotiation position in talks with Russia.
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