The Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD), the junior partner in the German ruling coalition, is prepared to soften its position and allow some arms exports to Saudi Arabia, local media reported on Wednesday citing sources
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 27th March, 2019) The Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD), the junior partner in the German ruling coalition, is prepared to soften its position and allow some arms exports to Saudi Arabia, local media reported on Wednesday citing sources.
In late February, the deputy chairman of the SPD faction in the Bundestag said the SPD backed the extension of ban on arms sales to Saudi Arabia. A temporary ban was announced by Berlin in October amid a controversy surrounding the death of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, who was killed in a Saudi consulate in Istanbul. Earlier this month, Germany extended the arms ban until the end of March.
The RND group of newspapers reported the German Security Council would hold a meeting later on Wednesday to discuss joint European arms projects that had already been approved earlier but were blocked due to Germany's ban on arms sales to Riyadh.
According to the RND, the SDP party is prepared to back the projects which involved no more than 20 percent of the components coming from Germany.
Spiegel magazine has reported earlier that UK Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt had sent a letter to his German counterpart Heiko Maas asking to lift the temporary moratorium on arms sales to Saudi Arabia.
