Criticism mounts over SPD leader's call to 'freeze' Ukraine conflict
Politicians from the Greens, FDP, and CDU criticized the head of the SPD parliamentary faction, Rolf Muetzenich. The politician suggested considering a "freeze" of the war in Ukraine. "His speech in the Bundestag was a return to the old policy of social democracy towards Russia," assessed the leader of the Green Party, Ricarda Lang.
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"It is obvious that 'freezing' this conflict would ultimately lead to unimaginable suffering of many people in the occupied territories," Lang said in an interview on WELT television.
Green Party politician Anton Hofreiter called Muetzenich's proposal an incentive for Putin to "further escalate the war" in Ukraine. "It harms the reputation of Germany worldwide," he emphasized.
The surprising suggestion of the SPD politician
"Has the time not come for us to not only talk about how to conduct a war, but also think about how to 'freeze' the war, and then end it?" asked Muetzenich during Thursday's debate in the Bundestag on the CDU/CSU motion to provide Ukraine with Taurus cruise missiles.
"I am sure that Ukraine was just as horrified as all of us in the Bundestag when we heard this," commented FDP deputy Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann on Deutschlandfunk radio.
Muetzenich's speech greatly upset the former Ukrainian ambassador to Germany, Andriy Melnik, who wrote on the platform X: "I always said: this guy was and remains the most repulsive German politician."
CDU foreign policy expert Roderich Kiesewetter believes that Muetzenich's statement was coordinated with the Chancellor's Office. This initiative was a "trial balloon" that revealed the general position of the SPD, announced Kiesewetter. In his opinion, the idea of "freezing" the conflict showed that "the SPD still has a romantic relationship with Russia, which now catches up (citizens) of Germany in a terrible way".
In the meantime, Muetzenich rejected the criticism. As he explained in an interview with the newspaper "Rheinische Post", in his speech he "clearly spoke in support of Ukraine, including weapons and ammunition". Moreover, like many other German politicians, he suggested that "we should think not only about military aid but also about the conditions for a possible end to the war".
