German Bundestag, Plenarprotokoll 20/24, pp.
1999-2000.
Frau President. Right honorable colleagues.
No one likes a dogmatist. On that account, I renounce
repeating what the AfD for over four years in every budget debate has demanded.
Decisive is: Even for the government, the penny appears to have fallen.
With the exception of a few leftist pacifists, all in this
house are united: Germany needs a mission-ready Bundeswehr and the 100 billion
euro financing is the required impetus for that. Yet so as to correctly commit
the means, the Federal government must now begin the reform of the procurement
process. If it does not do this, the troops will not quickly enough receive the
lacking weapons systems. The AfD therefore demands – Achtung: Solution – the removal of the distinction of Article 87a
and 87b in the Basic Law. The troops would thereby finally participate
proximately in the supply of requirements. For that, the AfD demands the
reactivation of the defense obligation [Wehrpflicht],
now more than ever. Since more weapons systems require more soldiers, whereas a
misappropriation of means is not to be. We say clearly: The Bundeswehr first!
Right honorable colleagues, almost every one of you always
speaks of personal outfitting when it concerns armament. This is for the German
defense politicians obviously a propitious expedient for sparing the voters the
brutal imposition of a land war. “Personal outfitting”, that sounds like the
motherly concern for socks and warm jackets. Yet here we are speaking of
weapons systems which our country is to put into place to stop an invasion as is
in fact occurring 1,000 kilometers away from us. For that, overwhelming
firepower is required on land, in the air and at sea.
Setting up Germany’s armed forces also requires the right
personnel. The press already doubts Defense Minister Lambrecht’s aptitude for
this mammoth task. The Bild yesterday
asked: “Can This Minister Fight?” Up to now, she fortunately needs not be able
to do this; however, she does need to manage the largest armaments policy
offensive since the establishment of the Bundeswehr.
For that, it is urgently necessary to have trust in the
organization [Apparat], trust in the
soldiers. The Defense Minister herself needs not know every detail of the
implementation. However, she must trust the operation of armed forces and
accept it, and she needs to know that soldiers are plainly not just doing a
job, Frau Minister. If correctly led and its capabilities are allowed to
develop, the Bundeswehr is probably the best that Germany has. Now is the time
to trust this Apparat and our soldiers.
Ladies and gentlemen, without money there will be no mission-ready Bundeswehr.
Yet without a motivation, without a devotion, without a strong will to defend
Germany, there also will be no mission-ready Bundeswehr.
Last week, President Zelenskyi spoke to us from besieged
Kiev – an authentic war president who leads, motivates and keeps alive his
people in a most difficult hour, a president who renounced the privilege of
being evacuated. We see Ukrainian men flock to take up arms to fire on Russian
tanks. We see Ukrainian women take up arms to fire on Russian tanks. We see a
people who show the world what love of country and unity are capable of. Can we
Germans also do this?
An INSA inquiry reveals that only three of ten Germans are
willing to defend our country. If that is true, Germany has a problem which is not
to be eliminated with money. And so in the future to create what the brave Ukrainians
are now doing
Vice-president Petra Pau: Herr Member.
must everyone who thinks seriously concerning Germany’s
defense capability work together for a spiritual-moral change in our country. The
invasion of the Ukraine is the latest warning shot. Please take it seriously.
[trans: tem]
