The government needs to better explain Ukraine policy to East Germans

Federal Finance Minister Christian Lindner (FDP) has called for the federal government’s Ukraine policy to be better explained to people in East Germany. This “must be done in all transparency,” Lindner told the Rheinische Post. “It’s not just about helping Ukraine in its defensive struggle against Russia.” German interests are also behind arms supplies, refugee aid and economic support to the country attacked by Russia.

“If we accept Russia’s violation of international law and its war of aggression, the European Union and NATO will collapse,” warned Lindner. “The Poles and the Czechs, for example, will ask themselves whether we can abandon them in the same way in an emergency, and in addition, Germany has to take care of several million additional refugees from Ukraine if the country attacks them.” Russia was about to fall. “It will be many times more expensive than the current assistance we are providing,” the Union Finance Minister said.

Election researchers and political scientists also attribute the AfD’s strong performance in the European elections in the East German states to the central government’s stance on the war in Ukraine. Especially in East Germany, many are concerned with the topic of war and peace, namely how to deal with Ukraine in the future, says Berlin political scientist Thorsten Fass. Here, the AfD and Sahra Wagenknecht coalition represented different positions than the other parties. In his view, this is one of the main reasons for the approval of these two parties.