Strack-Zimmermann at Miosga: “Before I have a heart attack, I’d better let it out.”
Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann, the chairwoman of the Defense Committee, spoke out in favor of an increase in the defense budget on the ARD talk show “Caren Miosga” on Sunday evening, without advocating easing the debt brake. The FDP politician emphasizes that she is committed to Ukraine. She fights “like a lioness for Ukraine”.
“Sometimes I also enjoy creating a certain mood with word games”: Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann regularly creates a mood on talk shows. The 66-year-old FDP politician was a guest on the ARD talk show “Caren Miosga” on Sunday evening and presented herself with strong opinions as usual. She has been shaping this country’s politics for 35 years, first as a local politician in Düsseldorf and later in the Bundestag, where she is chairwoman of the Defense Committee.
There she never tires of campaigning for military aid for the invaded Ukraine. She is not always on the same wavelength as Chancellor Scholz (SPD), who continues to reject the delivery of Taurus cruise missiles to the country at war. She speaks out in favor of this and emphasized: “I fight like a lioness for Ukraine.”
“I’d better let it out before I have a heart attack.”
Strack-Zimmermann is currently in the middle of the election campaign. She is her party’s top candidate in the European Parliament elections in June. It is already clear that she will soon shake up the EU in Brussels as the crowning achievement of her political career. In the European elections there is no five percent hurdle that the FDP would miss, according to recent surveys. Strack-Zimmermann’s temperament won’t change that.
“I think before I have a heart attack, I’d better let it out,” she said about herself at Miosga. In the next few weeks it will be important for her party to explain to people why the FDP has different positions than the other traffic light parties. In the end, she thinks it’s about “achieving a reasonable result, whatever that means.”
Strack-Zimmermann on the defense budget: “A question of priority”
At the FDP party conference at the weekend, she defended her party’s twelve-point package. This should help strengthen the economy. Because in this way money could flow into the federal coffers. This is urgently needed because the FDP politician is calling for an increase in the defense budget. She wants to use the money to further reform the Bundeswehr. She also advocates continued support for Ukraine.
The debt brake should not be weakened to increase the defense budget, said Strack-Zimmermann. “Ultimately it is a question of priority,” she explained in the ARD talk: “the priority of taking care of the Bundeswehr, taking money into hand, building an army in order to ultimately be resilient.” Germany must be in the The FDP woman demanded that she be able to deter opponents. In order to have the money available, all ministries would have to submit savings proposals in the upcoming budget negotiations. This also applies to the social sector.
Strack-Zimmermann on the debt brake: “Then a wall would break”
In addition, the higher costs for new weapon systems did not arise immediately, but only after they were delivered. Long-term financing is important. “And my concern is: If you open the debt brake, let’s say just for defense, then something would happen. Then a wall would break. Then it would come into this household uninterrupted. And that’s exactly what we don’t want.”
The politician believes it is still too early for peace negotiations between Ukraine and Russia. Conflict researcher Nicole Deitelhoff, who was also a guest at Miosga, also saw it that way: “We are even further away from peace negotiations than we would like.” But at least a path for such negotiations could be explored at a conference in Switzerland in June .
“Torture cellars for children have been found”
“As long as I am doing politics, I will not watch what happens in Ukraine and then move on to the agenda,” emphasized Strack-Zimmermann. One thing is clear: “I share the Ukrainians’ point of view. This people is in agony. And they don’t want to be occupied. They want to live in freedom. Like us.” She has traveled a lot in Ukraine and knows about kidnapped children, mass graves and raped women: “Torture cellars have been found, not just for adults, but also for children!”
Heribert Prantl, author and journalist, also believes that Ukraine should be supported with weapons, but also denounced “dogmatism and fundamentalism” in the discussions. “It is wrong to call the other position a betrayal and a disgrace. And we have to discuss the question of war and peace with each other,” said Prantl – and addressed Strack-Zimmermann: “You convince the convinced. You have to convince the others and promote it.”
However, Strack-Zimmermann emphasized that she was “not dogmatic and not fundamental”, but rather a “realist”. Putin has “already reached into Poland!” And only the Kremlin ruler is happy about the Chancellor’s “restraint”.
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The original for this post ““I’d better let it out before I have a heart attack”” comes from Teleschau.
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