German Chancellor Olaf Scholz is traveling to Washington on Friday February 9 for the third time since taking office in December 2021. This 24-hour trip will be primarily devoted to military aid to Ukraine, two years after the start of war, while a new tranche of 60 billion is blocked in Congress.
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With our correspondent in Berlin, Pascal Thibaut
The background to Olaf Scholz’s whirlwind visit to Washington is unusual. This time, it is the chancellor who comes to urge his ally to make more military efforts, in this case in favor of Ukraine.
Olaf Scholz arrives with, in his trunks, the 50 billion in aid recently released for kyiv by the European Union. A breakthrough that contrasts with the impasse in the American Congress over a $60 billion package for Ukraine. The chancellor met with American parliamentarians to persuade them to resolve the situation.
Olaf Scholz constantly repeats that his country is the second largest contributor of military aid to kyiv, after the United States; and the chancellor is urging his European partners to do more.
But Olaf Scholz is not in Washington to play tough. The chancellor knows very well that if the aid to Ukraine blocked in Congress was not adopted and especially if Donald Trump were to return to business, Germany and Europe would find themselves in an untenable situation.
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