Friedrich Merz, Germany’s new chancellor, has vowed to build the strongest conventional army in Europe and provide ‘no limits’ on aid to Ukraine, but his rhetoric is already colliding with political and practical realities. Within weeks of taking office, Merz announced a historic debt brake release to fund the Bundeswehr, hosted Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, and attended the first permanent deployment of German troops abroad since World War II in Lithuania.
However, Merz’s pledge to supply Ukraine with long-range Taurus missiles—implied by his statement that there were ‘no longer any restrictions’ on weapons—was quickly walked back. The next day, he qualified his remarks, and the government has since retreated to ‘strategic ambiguity’, focusing instead on joint missile production. The reversal suggests coalition resistance, particularly from Finance Minister Lars Klingbeil of the Social Democratic Party.
Russia reacted sharply to Merz’s initial comments. Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov invoked Germany’s Nazi past, saying history ‘apparently teaches these people nothing’. Former President Dmitry Medvedev also warned of World War III. The episode echoes earlier failures under Olaf Scholz, whose 2022 ‘Zeitenwende’ pledge was later deemed by the German Council on Foreign Relations to have failed to deliver ‘meaningful change’.
Merz’s allies argue the controversy was not futile. Thomas Röwekamp, chair of the Bundestag’s defence committee, said that by rejecting range limitations, Merz had ‘removed one argument preventing the Taurus from being delivered’. Nonetheless, the gap between ambition and execution remains wide, as Germany grapples with its historical legacy and the complexities of modern military leadership.
