Berlin and Warsaw fail to agree on centre for Leopard, tanks await repair – Spiegel
Poland and Germany planned to open a repair centre for Leopard tanks on Polish territory at the end of May, but the two countries have not been able to reach an agreement, and it's not just about money.
Source: Spiegel, reported by European Pravda
Details: On 21 April, at the Ramstein air base in Germany, German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius announced that a repair centre for Leopard battle tanks supplied to Ukraine would open in Poland at the end of May. The minister was even able to estimate the approximate cost of the so-called repair hub at €150 million.
However, two months after the meeting in Ramstein, according to defence industry sources, the German-Polish tank project has not yet made any progress. Instead, Berlin and Warsaw are engaged in irreconcilable disputes over the details of the joint venture's structure.
The first draft of the agreement was ready a few days ago, but by the end of last week, the document had not been signed due to various controversial issues.
The two German tank manufacturers, Rheinmetall and Krauss-Maffei Wegmann (KMW), were supposed to set up a joint venture. Together with the Polish state-owned armoured company PGZ, it was planned to set up a joint tank workroom at the Polish plants in Gliwice and Poznań. The German government would have covered the costs of repairing Leopard tanks.
In industrial circles, however, it is said that this project is still being hampered by Poland. For example, the Polish company PGZ has presented very peculiar ideas about the cost of tank repair work; insiders have spoken of extremely inflated prices.
For example, PGZ wanted to charge more than €100,000 for the so-called "initial diagnostic" of tanks. In Germany, such diagnostics usually cost only about €12,000. In addition, PGZ does not want to give any guarantees for repairs, which is also completely unusual, as the outlet writes.
German tank manufacturers believe that the controversy over the tank hub is politically motivated. For several months now, the government in Warsaw has been waging a campaign against Berlin. The ruling Law and Justice (PiS) party hardly misses an opportunity to speak out against the German government.
Several Leopard tanks have already arrived in Poland from Ukraine in need of repair, so the launch of the repair centre cannot be delayed.
On Monday, Boris Pistorius will have the opportunity to discuss the opening of the repair centre with his Polish counterpart Mariusz Błaszczak. Together, the ministers will visit the German Patriot air defence position in the Polish city of Zamość.
On 13 June, it was reported that Germany and Poland were close to signing an agreement to establish a service centre for the repair of Leopard battle tanks and other Western equipment used by Ukraine.
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