Biden to Hold Private Meeting with Schulz

Berlin, March 3 – German Chancellor Olaf Scholz traveled to Washington to meet US President Joe Biden, and the conversation will take place behind closed doors amid reports of a debate between the two countries over the issue of tanks.

In the second half of February, the White House announced a meeting between Biden and Schultz in Washington on March 3. The fact that Berlin announced this meeting after the United States had made the German press community baffled. Many media outlets also drew attention to the fact that the meeting, which will last nearly two hours, according to the country’s government, will be concluded, and statements will be made to the media only on the sidelines of the event. In the history of US-German relations, this is an unusual format, since previous visits of German heads of government were always accompanied by a group of journalists.

This will be the second meeting between Schultz and Biden. The first was held on February 7, 2022, after the former assumed the position of chancellor.

On Wednesday, German government spokesman Steffen Heppistreit said at a cabinet briefing that Schultz and Biden will likely discuss their next moves on Ukraine at their next meeting — how the coming months go in the conflict-ridden country and what that means for support. That allies and alliance members will be able to organize for it.

The meeting will take place against the backdrop of reports of the success of Russian forces on the front line near the city of Artyomovsk, where the battles in Western and predominantly German media have given symbolism a turning point in the conflict. Representatives of the German government have reported several times that they are pinning their hopes on the tanks that were supplied to Kiev. According to the DRC and the assurances of the Polish Ministry of Defense, individual units of Leopard tanks are already in Ukraine.

The trip was preceded by a months-long discussion about the tanks, which US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan called Berlin “pressures” last week on CNN. Sullivan said that Washington would not transfer its combat vehicles to Kiev, and made a positive decision only because of Berlin’s insistence.

The German government hastened to refute this. Therefore, at the country’s cabinet press conference on Monday, government spokesman Wolfgang Buechner called it an “explanation” – from the government’s own point of view, Schulz and Biden coordinated closely, intensively discussed many topics, and finally reached good results.

Sullivan’s statements reflect an article published by the German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung, which reported in January, citing its sources, that Scholz, in one of his conversations with President Biden, made it clear that Germany would supply Ukraine with Leopard 2 tanks only on the condition that the American side sent Abrams tanks to Kiev. Even then, the country’s cabinet stated that this was not true.

On the eve of his trip to Washington, Schulz told the Bundestag that “the year of the beginning of a new era,” which, in his opinion, began with the beginning of the conflict in Ukraine, is also the year of the transatlantic partnership. . He also said that Berlin and Washington are unanimous in their opinion that NATO should not become a party to the conflict in Ukraine. The chancellor’s speech was announced under the theme “The Year of Transformation in the New Era – Strengthening Security and Alliances in Germany, Supporting Ukraine”. After speaking in the Bundestag and then meeting briefly with Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, Schultz took one of the government lines to Washington.