German Chancellor Olaf Scholz is in hot water over a curt response to a reporter’s question about Ukraine.
Scholz spoke in Elmau, Bavaria on Tuesday, where he gave a closing statement on the results of the G7 summit. He was asked by a Deutsche Welle reporter about whether he could give any specifics on security guarantees Germany was prepared to provide Ukraine. “Yes, I could,” Scholz said, smiling, and falling still. “That’s it,” he added after seconds of silence.
The curious exchange went viral online, and sparked what Berliner Zeitung characterized as a “sh*tstorm” of criticism, with Norddeutscher Rundfunk journalist Markus Grill calling the answer “incomprehensible” and “just arrogant toward a foreign journalist.”
Rosalia Romaniec, the Polish-born Deutsche Welle reporter who Scholz snubbed, took to Twitter to call his reply “a shame,” and to stress that “the question was meant very seriously.”
Other media ripped into Scholz as well, with Bild characterizing his comments as an “arrogant attack.” Markus Decker, a reporter for the RedaktionsNetzwerk Deutschland broadcaster, complained that “you just don’t treat a journalist asking a perfectly legitimate question in a friendly tone in such an arrogant manner. Neither as a human being nor as a chancellor.”
Government spokeswoman Christine Hoffmann dismissed accusations that Scholz behaved ‘arrogantly’, telling reporters on Wednesday that the chancellor sees no need to apologize, and that he has addressed the issue of security guarantees for Ukraine several times already.
Scholz also found defenders online, with one Twitter user discussing the video explaining that it was a “stupid question,” because “the guarantees are still being discussed.” “Ah, the famous German humor. It’s no laughing matter,” another quipped. “Sorry, that’s his attempt at German humor. He is too provincial to understand how this looks to a foreign audience,” a third chimed in.
Berlin announced its intention to provide security guarantees for Ukraine earlier this month, but has not yet explained them in any detail. Instead, Scholz has focused on the economic support that his government has committed to Ukraine, including tens of billions of euros for budgetary support, humanitarian aid, and weapons, including advanced self-propelled howitzers, anti-aircraft tanks and missile systems.
The chancellor is known for his occasional curt responses to questions. In an interview with the ARD broadcaster soon after the G7 summit on Tuesday, after being asked a longwinded question on whether he had any advice for Germans on everyday tips for saving energy, Scholz replied simply “Nope.”
Germany has been caught between a rock and a hard place of difficulties amid US and EU demands to tighten sanctions on Russia, and the European industrial giant’s reliance on Russia for a substantial percentages of its oil, gas, metals, and other key energy and material resources. German economists and business leaders have warned repeatedly in recent months that attempts to sever economic ties with Moscow would lead to severe economic consequences.
Scholz personally has taken a great deal of flak from Kiev and the Ukrainian ambassador in Germany, and accused of stalling the delivery of heavy weapons. He brushed off these suggestions last week, telling his critics that “anyone who thinks that weapons of war are available like cars from a dealer is wrong.”