German parliament again declines to deliver Taurus missiles to Ukraine

By Anadolu staff

BERLIN (AA) - German lawmakers on Thursday rejected a motion on the delivery of long-range Taurus missiles to Ukraine, despite growing pressure from Kyiv and allies to boost arms deliveries.

The motion, which was put forward by the center-right CDU/CSU alliance, was backed by 181 lawmakers, while 480 lawmakers voted against the bid, and five abstained.

It was the second attempt of Christian Democrats (CDU/CSU) to build support for the delivery of German advanced weapon systems and long-range missiles to Ukraine, after their similar motion was rejected last month.

Chancellor Olaf Scholz has been cautious so far about delivering Taurus missiles to Ukraine, fearing that they can be used to attack targets in Russia, and make Germany a party to the conflict.

On Thursday, lawmakers from Scholz’s Social Democratic Party (SPD) and their coalition partners, the Greens and the Free Democratic Party (FDP), voted against the CDU/CSU’s motion.

Liberal politician Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann, the head of the parliament’s defense committee, was the only lawmaker from the coalition, who voted in favor of the motion.

“I don’t want to be accused one day of not having done the right thing at the right moment,” she said during the debate at the parliament, and called for delivering Taurus missiles to strengthen the capabilities of the Ukrainian army.

She warned that “Ukraine is running out of time,” and Kyiv was in need of more immediate military firepower, to counter Russia’s attacks.