On Thursday, Bavarian Prime Minister and CSU leader Markus Söder told World TV that Germany’s current measures to bring its citizens home from the Middle East are insufficient. He said the nation’s top duty is to protect its people and help them in crisis situations, and that the focus now must be on evacuating holidaymakers. “What’s being done still feels too little” he added, arguing that too few Bundeswehr vehicles are being deployed to assist the effort.
Söder urged the federal government to reassess whether more means-such as increased use of Bundeswehr equipment-could be employed. He noted that Italy, the UK and France are already using stronger measures themselves, and mentioned that calls from Germans in the region highlighted how stressful the situation is. Currently, holidaymakers are being asked to drive from their vacation sites to a handful of support points from which they would be flown back.
Criticizing the pace of the evacuation early in the crisis, Söder said he believed Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul had done too little. He rejected the notion that holidaymakers bear any responsibility for their situation, insisting that as German citizens they are entitled to the state’s full protection.