German defense expert Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann, who is a member of the Free Democratic Party (FDP), wants the favorite for chancellor in the upcoming parliamentary elections - Friedrich Merz, to reconsider German policy towards Ukraine if his party is eliminated first in the vote in February, DPA reported, quoted by BTA.
"Friedrich Merz now has the chance to become a great chancellor if he does the opposite of what Scholz is doing," Strack-Zimmermann said in an interview with the "Funke" media group.
She pointed out that the possibility of change goes far beyond policy towards Ukraine and reaches critically important areas such as Germany's economic strategy. Strack-Zimmermann warned that if Merz does not have the courage to take decisive action, there could be "historically dramatic" consequences.
German voters will go to the polls on February 23. Many analysts consider Merz, who is the leader of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), the favorite to become chancellor.
Strack-Zimmermann, who chairs the European Parliament's security and defense committee, has long advocated increasing military support for Kiev, including sending Taurus cruise missiles to Ukraine. However, Chancellor Scholz has resisted this call.
Scholz accused Merz of taking a risky approach to Ukraine policy and suggested that the CDU leader's stance on providing Taurus missiles to Kiev risks escalating tensions with nuclear-armed Russia. "I can only say this - be careful. You should not play Russian roulette with German security," Scholz said.
Stracht-Zimmermann accused the chancellor of using the issue of providing "Taurus" missiles to Ukraine to reap dividends in her election campaign. According to her, Scholz's refusal to send these weapons to Kiev under the pretext of promoting peace is "indecent" use of Ukrainian needs to gain electoral support.
Stracht-Zimmermann expressed doubts that Scholz would be re-elected. "Olaf Scholz is history," she said.
Merz is Scholz's main rival in the Bundestag elections, with the CDU ahead of the German Social Democratic Party (SPD) by about 10 percentage points in recent opinion polls. Support for the FDP hovers around 5%, which is usually the threshold for entering parliament.