The SPD wants to put the procurement of armed drones required by the Union for the Bundeswehr on hold. The SPD parliamentary group had agreed not to agree to arming the Heron TP drone for the time being, but rather to “openly and publicly discuss it openly,” said defense policy spokesman Fritz Felgentreu on Tuesday via Twitter. With reference to his own credibility, he declared that he would resign as spokesman. After a long debate and expert hearings, Felgentreu had signaled approval for the armaments project.

Promised debate failed to materialize Regarding his attitude, he explained: “Either I stand by the public and the Bundeswehr, although everyone actually knows that I have a different opinion – not very credible. I’m too stubborn for that. I say that self-critically, not coquettish. ”

SPD parliamentary group leader Rolf Mützenich had publicly expressed concerns of party leader Norbert Walter-Borjans, reported the newspapers of the Funke media group. Mützenich stated in the parliamentary group meeting on Tuesday that there had been no “detailed and broad debate” about the armaments project, as required in the coalition agreement. The FDP and the Greens had already rejected criticism of a lack of debate as inaccurate and asked the SPD to decide now for or against the armament.

According to the report, according to participants, Mützenich said it was not Doubts “that armed and unarmed drones can give the soldiers on duty a further protection”. However, it is also known from practice that armed drones can quickly lower the inhibition threshold for military violence. Mützenich pointed out to the SPD MPs that the massive use of drones on the part of Azerbaijan had decisively decided the conflict in the South Caucasus with Armenia. Many countries would draw the conclusion that “we need these weapons too”.

Sharp words from the Ministry of Defense In the evening, the Ministry of Defense distributed a quote from Minister Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer (CDU), who had declared the lack of armament: “We are negligently jeopardizing the lives of soldiers I want to change that. ”

The Left welcomed the decision of the SPD parliamentary group. “Reason and good arguments have prevailed in the SPD,” said the deputy party chairman Tobias Pflüger. “I hope that arming drones of the Bundeswehr will be impossible in the future.”

(mho)