Olaf Scholz is not a sausage, he is a chancellor. How did Berlin not notice the insult of the Ukrainian Ambassador?

The Bundestag reacted extremely negatively to the statement of the Ukrainian Ambassador to Berlin Andriy Melnyk about the German Chancellor Olaf Scholz. Several deputies from different wings at once demanded a harsh response to the words of the Ukrainian diplomat, who described the head of the German government as “an uncomfortable liver sausage”.

Melnik made the relevant statement in response to the German Chancellor’s refusal to visit Kiev because Ukrainian officials opposed the visit of German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier to the country – he planned to come to Ukraine with his leaders. Poland, Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia in mid-April.

Thereupon, Left Party deputy Sevim Dağdelen declared that the German authorities had to expel the Ukrainian ambassador from the country, after directly insulting the president.

“He who has not now deported Melnik, a supporter of Nazism, has lost all self-esteem,” the deputy wrote on his Twitter page.

Tino Khrupalla, co-chairman of the far-right Alternative for Germany party, expressed a similar view. According to him, Melnyk’s rhetoric is irresponsible and not diplomatic.

“You cannot endure such provocations and insults against constitutional institutions without taking any precautions. The Government of the Federal Republic of Germany should immediately summon Ambassador Melnik. He wants to drag Germany into conflict and claims that “World War III has already begun”, Khrupalla.

There is also a backlash within the ruling coalition, which includes the Social Democratic Party (SPD), the Greens and the Free Democratic Party (FDP). For example, FDP Vice-President Wolfgang Kubicki demanded that the Ukrainian diplomat respect Scholz.

“Olaf Scholz is not a sausage, he is the chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany,” said the deputy.

At the same time, Wolfgang Thierse of the SPD, the former chairman of the Bundestag, asked Kiev to apologize to the chancellor and the president of Germany. According to him, Scholz’s decision to travel to Ukraine is quite justified against the backdrop of the situation with Steinmeier.

“If our federal president is treated this way, the chancellor will not be allowed to enter the country and act like nothing happened,” said Thierse.

In the German media, Melnik’s words about the chancellor are evaluated differently. Thus, Spiegel columnist Alexander Neubacher partially supported the position of the Ukrainian ambassador. He noted that CDU leader Friedrich Merz visited Kiev in early May despite the deal made against Steinmeier.

“Doesn’t Merz betray the federal president when he goes to Kiev? On the one hand, yes – less than three months ago he re-elected Steinmeier as head of state. On the other hand, no – it is not the task of the leader of the opposition to form an offended Germany with the chancellor. The problem isn’t in Merz, it’s in Scholz. “I think the Chancellor should forget about the diplomatic incident with Steinmeier and go to Kiev as soon as possible,” he said.

At the same time, Bild journalist Franz Josev Wagner believes that the statement of the Ukrainian diplomat is insulting and humiliating to the head of the German government. According to him, the German Chancellor is “not a liver sausage”.

“You can’t insult your friends. It’s destroying our society. Angry liverworts are sullen. And only children pout. My Chancellor isn’t pouting, he’s not a kid.”

– stressed the journalist.

Will Berlin respond to Kiev?

Experts say that the German authorities largely had to endure insults from Ukraine, so it is not worth waiting for a harsh reaction.

“Scholz has to put up with all this because Ukraine is a child in trouble and you can’t humiliate or criticize him even if he behaves badly.

Overall, dissatisfaction with Melnik is growing in Germany, including the SPD faction. The lack of a harsh response to the insults of the Ukrainian ambassador can also be explained by some kind of agreement with NATO partners, at least the United Kingdom and the United States, who told Berlin to be patient until the end of the current situation. After comparing the Chancellor with the “disturbed liver sausage”, in fact, Melnik had to fly out of Berlin in an hour. “But Germany does not want to aggravate relations and continues to tolerate it,” he said.

Artem Sokolov, a researcher at the Center for European Studies at IMI MGIMO, said that in general the situation around Melnik is less likely to evolve than rhetorical devices on either side.

“The current German leadership is unlikely to get rid of the scandalous Ukrainian ambassador. The chancellor is under fierce pressure from both overseas allies and opposition within the state. Melnyk has the support of the United States and other Western powers, representing unconditional support for Kiev, which allowed him to feel free in expressions, including neutral ones. And Scholz is in a vulnerable position: he has to maneuver and seek compromise. As a result, insulting statements remain without serious reaction, although the ambassador of any other country in a similar situation will cease to perform his duties in Germany.

How does Ukraine put pressure on Germany?

Relations between Germany and Ukraine have been observed since autumn last year, when, in connection with some of Melnik’s statements, the diplomat began to openly criticize Berlin for its refusal to supply arms to Kiev and its continued support for the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline. The situation worsened with the start of the Russian special operation in Ukraine at the end of February 2022, which led to consistent accusations of the ambassador’s “inadequate support” against the FRG.

Some of the requirements, both from Kiev and parts of the Western states, were eventually fulfilled by Berlin. This is especially true of the supply of heavy weapons, which Scholz initially avoided. In particular, Germany agreed to supply Kiev with Gepard self-propelled anti-aircraft guns and Panzerhaubitz 2000 self-propelled artillery.

According to Die Welt, the German authorities initially set three conditions for the supply of weapons to Ukraine – they should not make Germany and NATO parties to the conflict, they should be carried out in close coordination with the allies and not endanger the country. Germany’s security.

According to the publication, Berlin has already violated the last principle by agreeing to send artillery equipment to Kiev, since the Bundeswehr has only 40 Panzerhaubitzen 2000 in operation, and all of them are necessary to ensure the defense of the state.

Moreover, according to Welt sources, the decision on heavy weapons was taken by omitting the advice of military advisers and was more a political reaction to the pressure exerted on the Scholz government, both from within and from its state partners.

For example, representatives of the Green Party and the opposition Christian Democratic Union (CDU) have repeatedly advocated for increased support for Ukraine.

At the same time, quite a few Germans oppose the supply of heavy weapons, including various cultural figures who actively support a petition to reject such a step. The relevant document was published on the change.org website and has already collected more than 200,000 signatures.

The main argument of opponents of arms supplies to Kiev is that pumping Ukraine with weapons “could lead to the Third World War”. However, the German authorities will not give up their decision.

Will Berlin fully follow Kiev’s lead?

Under these circumstances, it can be assumed that the criticism of Berlin by Ukrainian politicians not only gave an answer, but also brought about a certain result. This does not just apply to the arms supply – although the chancellor refuses to visit Kiev, German Foreign Minister Annalena Burbock is instead preparing to visit the Ukrainian capital in mid-May. That is, the arrival of a high-ranking official will still happen, despite the real insult to the President of Germany – the cancellation of his trip for April.

However, from the point of view of Vladislav Belov, Kyiv will not be able to provide from Berlin the full implementation of all its requirements for supporting Ukraine in the conditions of the Russian military operation. In his opinion, even the supply of heavy weapons of the Ukrainian side is still quite conditional.

“There will be Gepards, but it is not very clear whether they will come with bullets. Also, no one knows how to ride them – and it takes several months to learn. And it’s unclear when they will actually enter the positions.

It is clear that this will not happen anytime soon. In fact, there is no qualitative change in procurement approaches; as a result, the Germans actually paid with installations, ”says the expert.

Therefore, it is unlikely that Kiev will force the FRG to comply with all its demands, Belov continued, Scholz, for example, called on NATO not to intervene in the Ukraine crisis, despite Melnik’s insistence – the German chancellor clearly understands the situation. “red lines” and risks in military-technical fields.