Germany's ruling Social Democratic Party (SPD) failed to recognize Russia's aggressive intentions, lost confidence by ignoring warnings from Eastern Europe and led Germany into dangerous energy dependence, admitted this Sunday one of the leaders of the party to which Chancellor Olaf Scholz belongs.
In a striking speech in which he admits guilt, Lars Klingbeil said in Berlin that his party's long-standing claim that stability in Europe can be achieved "only with Russia" was wrong. "Today we need to organize security from Russia," he added.
Speaking at the headquarters of the SPD, as reported by the "Politiko" portal, Klingbeil said that his party had long been guided by the consensus that "close relations with Russia are good for us... However, we failed to recognize that the framework of that relationship had changed a long time ago." .
"The Russian regime around Putin became more and more repressive and aggressive, even revisionist. In our search for common ground, we overlooked what separates us. That was a mistake," he said. "We stuck to the image of Russia that was shaped by the past, but which long ago stopped reflecting the present."
Klingbeil's statement is significant because the Social Democrats have steered Germany as the ruling party for most of the past 25 years, first under Chancellor Gerhard Schröder, then intermittently for 12 years as the junior partner of center-right leader Angela Merkel, and since the end of last year during Scholz's mandate of Olaf.
Klingbeil's self-critical speech also contradicts the statements of Scholz, who said last Sunday that he "always knew" about Russian President Vladimir Putin's intentions to use energy as a weapon, as well as Merkel's claims that she made no mistakes in her policy towards Russia.
Bonus video:
